A LACK of police officers has been blamed for the theft of £20,000 worth of jewellery from a shop in Cheddar Gorge. The jewellery was stolen from Cobwebs, in Daghole, on April 22, and owner Brian Lewis, aged 59, says there needs to be more police officer

A LACK of police officers has been blamed for the theft of £20,000 worth of jewellery from a shop in Cheddar Gorge. The jewellery was stolen from Cobwebs, in Daghole, on April 22, and owner Brian Lewis, aged 59, says there needs to be more police officers out on the streets. Brian, who lives with his wife Barbara, aged 55, in Banwell said: "We are totally fed up with the lack of policing overnight in the gorge. It encourages boy racers and kids drinking and taking drugs in the quieter areas such as the parks. "We would like to investigate installing security cameras in our part of the gorge, but I understand this isn't popular with some people. "We have considered walkie talkies for each shop owner but we do not know if they would get a good radio reception in the gorge. "Shop owners in the area have to put up with vandalism and shoplifting on a regular basis. Our shop has had its electric box ripped off twice in two weeks. In December our Christmas lights were torn down the day after we put them up."Sergeant Peter Yensen, of Cheddar police, said: "People sometimes have unrealistic expectations. We are not a security service. If people want someone there all the time they need to hire a security guard."Police officers can be called to deal with incidents all over the place and, in rural areas, this can mean travelling quite a long distance, something which is a problem for all the emergency services. "We do not have an inexhaustible supply of officers. We are here to help and do whatever we can but we are not a personal security service."If anyone has any information about the incident at Cobwebs they can call the police on 0845 456 7000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.