Witnesses hear 'drilling noise' before cash machine raid (From Times Series)

Witnesses hear 'drilling noise' before cash machine raid in Temple Fortune

6:01pm Saturday 25th July 2009 in News By Kevin Bradford

NEIGHBOURS living above the bank in Temple Fortune that was raided by robbers last night have spoken of hearing a drilling noise just before police swooped.

Chris Howat, 28, lives above Barclays Bank in Finchley Road. He said he and his partner were woken by the noise of the raid at about 3am.

He said: “We heard this noise which sounded like drilling and at first we thought it was roadworks outside.

“We looked out and were just trying to work out what was happening. It was quite surreal really.

“We looked down and saw the top of the cab below our window. It took us a while to just figure out what was going on."

The area around the bank was today sealed off with police tape and detectives were scouring the scene for evidence.

The branch manager was on site this morning to assess the damage, although the bank was not due to be open today.

Normal business is expected to be carried out in the branch on Monday and a new panel was due to be placed in the front this afternoon.

Three men have been arrested in connection with the robbery and are in custody at a north London police station.