A POSTMISTRESS has vowed to rebuild her shop after 'absolute scum' smashed into the building with a mechanical digger.

Jenny Cain responded to the ram raid by pledging to reopen Barnards Green Post Office, in Court Road, Malvern, as soon as possible.

The shop was targeted in a smash-and-grab on Thursday, April 13, which has caused 'tens of thousands' of pounds worth of damage.

Thieves destroyed the front of the post office with a stolen digger and then used a 4x4 and some rope to rip out the store's cash machine.

The criminals also used a black Mitsubishi L200, a silver Ford Ranger pickup and a blue Audi estate, in the theft, which was reported at 3.20am.

Neighbours were woken up by the sound of the digger smashing into the shop and said the raid lasted for under 10 minutes.

Ms Cain, aged 44, said: "I'm in here at the moment and there's just a gaping hole.

"How dare someone from outside come into the middle of our community and do this to us?

"They are absolute scum of the earth. They are the lowest of the low. They have no moral fibre whatsoever.

"We will sweep up, clean up and reopen in a temporary capacity. I will have an ATM [cash machine] back in, I've asked for one.

"I won't let these people get away with this. It will be open as soon as possible as I know people need us here."

Ms Cain had hoped to restart temporary services late this week but she now thinks that is unlikely.

"I don't know when temporary services will return. At the moment the shop is all boarded up," she said.

"They will build me another wall about six foot back so they can work on the shop front while I'm trading."

She added that she had to wait for the loss adjusters before she could give a potential date for the reopening.

"They work out the damage. There's more damage than just the shop front. There's a crack in the floor," she said.

"A friend of mine asked me if the pick-and-mix was alright. It was. You've got to laugh about it."

She confirmed that the thieves got away with some cash and said she would reopen despite the incident.

"We are a tight bunch in Barnards Green. The level of support we got yesterday [April 13] was amazing," she said.

"Thank you to everyone who gave support yesterday, it was truly heartwarming and puts my faith back in human nature again."

Ms Cain said she received flowers from residents, bacon sarnies from the nursing home next door and chips from the local chippy.

She added that her MP, Harriett Baldwin, visited the store after the theft and was shocked by the amount of damage the thieves had caused.

Anyone with information can call 101 quoting incident number 0051s of Thursday, April 13.