Thieves steal £6,000 worth of items from James Brown co-owned Gosport music shop – but could be left with egg on face

ROBBERS carried out a brazen reconnaissance mission on a Gosport guitar shop before breaking in and stealing more than £6,000 worth of specialised items.
One of the items stolen from Kouga Guitars in GosportOne of the items stolen from Kouga Guitars in Gosport
One of the items stolen from Kouga Guitars in Gosport

But the hapless thieves could be left with egg on their faces after the robbery at Kouga Guitars, Lees Lane, with a co-director of the shop saying the criminals will struggle to sell the unique items.

Two men are thought to be behind the planned robbery which involved going through the main entrance to the Sanderson Business Centre, where the shop is based, before squeezing their way through a hatch. The men then crawled through a void and climbed onto the top of the unit.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Finally, the assailants smashed in the chipboard roof before entering the shop and ransacking the premises where they took a laptop, cash and a number of musical instruments – including a £2,000 cello.

One of the items stolen from Kouga Guitars in GosportOne of the items stolen from Kouga Guitars in Gosport
One of the items stolen from Kouga Guitars in Gosport

Guitars taken included a limited edition Fender Offset telecaster with a jazzmaster body, an Ernie Ball music man bass, a custom made bouzouki and Yamaha trb 1005 bass guitar.

Three ukuleles stolen included a Fender 52 that is now out of production, a Mahalo surfboard and Kala KA-JTE jazz.

Andy Wheeler, who is co-director of the shop with James Brown, said: ‘The thieves stole more than £6,000 worth of items but they will be unable to sell them as they are very rare items. It will be obvious the items were taken from our shop.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘The two men definitely knew exactly what they were doing. They went to great lengths to get in the shop – but they left their fingerprints on a box.’

Speaking of the planned robbery, Andy, who says he has ‘crystal clear’ CCTV images of the assailants, said: ‘They came into the shop about a week before the robbery. A man, aged about 45 with hardly any hair, was acting all weird after saying he thought he would just pop in.

‘Meanwhile a younger man, who was skinny, unshaven and in his 20s, was going in and out of the Sanderson Centre. They were checking out the place. But they had no idea there was CCTV.

A police spokesperson said they were investigating the burglary.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101, quoting 44190201098.