Raiders who used gas to blow up a supermarket cash machine are still being hunted by police almost week after carrying out the attack.

Officers were called to Kestrel Road, Lordswood, at about 3.45am on Friday, February 26, after reports a cashpoint had been damaged.

The machine targeted was at the Tesco Express shop which suffered substantial fire damage during the raid.

The front doors of the store also looked like they had suffered the effects of the blast, while the sign above had also been damaged.

Fire crews used breathing apparatus to enter the building to put a fire out on ground floor of the shop and it was two hours before they left the scene.

The raid bears hallmarks of those carried out by members of a Merseyside gang who were locked up for more than 100 years for carrying out 31 raids at cash machines in 2014, stealing about £800,000.

The gang’s tactics involved forcing open the machine with a crowbar and inserting a pipe with a mixture of gases which was then ignited with a flame – often matches taped to a wire – to cause the explosion.

Coincidentally, their story was featured on The Prosecutors: Real Crime and Punishment on BBC4 just two days before the Lordswood raid.

Gas canisters could been seen by the side of the store on the day it happened as officers gathered evidence and cordoned off the scene.

Police this week said they had not made any arrests in connection with the raid and it was still not clear how much money, if any, was taken.

A stolen Land Rover used in the raid had been taken earlier in the evening from Dave Slattery’s driveway. Mr Slattery, 62, lives less than two miles from the scene.

A police spokesman said: “If anyone has any information or can help with the investigation, call 101 quoting reference 26-0081.”