A POST office which was badly damaged in a ram-raid has been given a cheerful make-over by a kind-hearted businessman.

Bruce Graham has provided for free a large banner to hide the wooden hoarding which has been in place since raiders ripped the cash machine out of Barnards Green Post Office, in Malvern, using a mechanical digger back in April.

The banner features a picture of Postman Pat and lists all the services that the post office offers.

Jenny Cain, owner of the post office, said: "It's an absolutely lovely gesture. It's much better than the shop looking like it's in Beirut, and I'm really grateful to Bruce for doing it.

"The community here in Malvern is so lovely, and the amount of support I have had has been amazing."

Mr Graham, of Graham Signs, in Spring Lane, Malvern, said: "We were burgled ourselves a while ago and it's not nice. I know personally how it can turn your business upside down and make it difficult to carry on.

"I've lived here all my life and I just wanted to give something back and brighten up the area."

The criminals smashed through the front of the post office, in Court Road, Malvern, with a digger in the early hours of Thursday, April 13.

They then used a 4x4 and a piece of rope to pull the cash machine out of the building. The machine was later found abandoned at Blackmore Industrial Park, near Malvern.

The raid reportedly took less than 10 minutes and also involved a black Mitsubishi L200, a silver Ford Ranger pickup and a blue Audi estate.

The JCB was stolen from the Hanley Swan area, the black Mitsubishi 4x4 was taken from the Bromyard area and the Ford Ranger was from the Gloucester area.

Police said this week that the investigation is still ongoing. Anyone with information should call 101 quoting incident number 0051s of Thursday, April 13.