An Elsenham salon owner has spoken of their devastation following a second break-in in as many months.

Ann Fegan, who has run Options Hair Design on Ambrose Corner in Elsenham for the past 30 years, said the recent raid, which was discovered by one of her employees last Thursday morning, was far worse than the previous attack in January, when cash and hair straighteners were removed.

“This time there they cleaned the whole salon out – they took everything,” Ann, who lives in Stansted, told the Reporter.

“This one was much more aggressive because we were literally left with no salon.”

The first raid happened overnight on January 8, on the same night five charity shops and two churches in Bishop’s Stortford were hit.

At the most recent break-in, at which intruders entered through a side-window having failed to get in the front door, shampoo, straighteners, scissors, razors, and even a tumble drier were taken, and £1,000 had to be spent on replacing basic equipment.

“We were devastated, absolutely and totally devastated. In the salon we keep finding things that are missing, we’ll never get all of it back, particularly my hair collections, added Ann, who has collected precious hair samples over the years, which were stolen in the raid.

The salon closed for just one day last Thursday, and is already back to business – celebrating 30 years of service this September.

“On the day of the break in, we had a staff meeting and spoke about what happened, and where we go from here,” said the mother-of-two.

“Who knows who was responsible, but we mustn’t look at it as a personal attack,” Ann added.

Anyone with information about the break-ins is asked to call Essex Police on 101.