A conman posing as a policeman escaped with the contents of a Colchester shop till after telling a member of staff to empty it into a bag.

The man calmly walked into High Street News, High Street, Colchester, at about 3.10pm on Wednesday.

Without showing and any identification, he claimed he was a member of the town's CID.

He pretended to talk to other police officers on a mobile phone and then cleared the shop of customers, saying he needed to talk to the woman behind the counter.

When the shop was empty, he asked the staff member to empty the contents of the till into a plastic bag, which the assistant did.

He asked her to count out the money to him, which she refused to do, so he grabbed the bag, containing £50, from the shocked woman and ran out of the shop towards Head Street.

The shop manageress, who asked not to be identified, said: "He said he was trying to make sure we would not be targeted for crime.

"The whole thing is very distressing to be a victim of crime. The assistant is rather distressed, and embarrassed and angry."

The bogus detective is described as aged about 40, tall, thin and scruffy-looking, with short dark hair.

Police were yesterday (Thursday) checking closed-circuit television footage.

Anyone with any information about the offence is asked to contact Colchester police on 01206 762212 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111

By Stephen Rawlins

Reporter's e-mail: stephen_rawlins@thisisessex.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.