A Dereham beauty salon owner this week put up a £500 reward after her business was ransacked and hundreds of pounds in cash and products were taken.

Dereham Times: Jayne Vertigan's beatuy salon Renaissance was broken into at the weekend and ramsacked. Picture: Matthew Usher.Jayne Vertigan's beatuy salon Renaissance was broken into at the weekend and ramsacked. Picture: Matthew Usher. (Image: © Archant Norfolk 2013)

Jayne Vertigan, 45, is offering the cash for the arrest and conviction of the burglars who broke into Renaissance beauticians on Norwich Street.

The mother-of-two went to open the beauty salon last Saturday morning and found doors smashed in, rubbish bins emptied of dirty wax strips and a week's worth of takings, money saved from tips and expensive products gone.

Mrs Vertigan, who lives in Fakenham and has had the business in the town for 11-years, said she wants to send a warning to other small businesses in the area to watch out for the thieves who may target them as well. She said: 'I've been here for over a decade and never has something like this happened before.

'I went into the salon and didn't really understand what had happened, but then I saw my holiday tin with tips in was gone.

'I rang my husband, rang the police, and then sat down and cried.'

News of the crime comes as Dereham police have appealed for information about a spate of burglaries at homes and businesses in and around the town in the past weeks.

They have told people to be vigilant of any suspicious activity – and not to hesitate to call the emergency 999 number is they suspect anything.

In a statement about the Renaissance burglary, Norfolk police said: 'Entry was forced to the premises with the till opened and a quantity of money taken.

'A search of the premises took place with a small amount of cosmetics product taken and a large mirror also broken.

Mrs Vertigan said she keeps blaming herself for the burglary, saying she became complacent, leaving the till and safe full of cash.

The money taken from the tips tin was being saved for her son Ryan's, 21st birthday trip to Las Vegas.

She said: 'After you have been somewhere for so long you just trust everybody.'

Next Thursday the Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner, Stephen Bett, will visit Dereham Library between 10am and noon along with his deputy Jenny McKibben.

Local people are invited to the event to discuss crime and policing in the area.

Anyone with information on the burglary should contact PC Peter Fuller at Dereham police station on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.