Pair sought over mobile phone thefts

These men are being sought by police in connection with a spate of mobile phone thefts from stores in the Midlands.

Thieves targeted Sandwell, Kidderminster and Shrewsbury, escaping with handsets worth hundreds of pounds.

The first theft happened on April 21 last year at 02 in High Street, Kidderminster, when a Sony Ericsson X10 phone was stolen.

During the theft two men removed the display phone from the secure clamp, replaced it with a dummy phone and left the store with the real item.

The following day two men targeted the O2 shop in Pride Hill, Shrewsbury. They asked to look at a Sony Ericsson X10 mobile. One of them distracted the shop assistant and the other swapped the genuine phone for a dummy. The phones cost £529 each.

There was a similar theft, also on April 21, at the O2 phone shop in West Bromwich.

PC Garry Burns of West Mercia Police said: "There were two and possibly three thefts committed over two days, many miles apart. The offenders are cool customers, who struck while the shops were busy.

"They appeared to know exactly what they were after and showed no signs of nerves."

The men police want to talk to are both white, and of average height and build.

One had dark hair but was bald on the top of his head. He had a short beard and moustache, and was wearing a light coloured, possibly grey, jumper with darker thin horizontal stripes, and jeans, and was wearing a large chain around his neck. The other man had dark hair, and was wearing a dark, possibly black, jumper and jeans.

Anyone who recognises the men in the images should contact West Mercia Police on 0300 333 3000 quoting incident 329-s-210410 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 55111.