Thieves make clean getaway with £6,000 hot tub full of water from spa showroom

Given the current cold snap, the thought of having a luxury hot tub must have been tempting.

But the owners of a spa showroom never thought one installed outside their premises was at risk.

After all, the £6,000 outdoor model weighed a third of a tonne, was wired to mains electricity and filled with water.

Thieves struck over the holiday period, however, using a nearby water butt to scoop out more than a tonne of water it was filled with.

They then carried the six-seater tub through a hole they had cut in a six-foot high metal fence, over a ditch using planks, and onto a waiting vehicle before driving it away.

Police suspect it may have been stolen to order for a wealthy customer.

Denise Mason, who runs Fenland Arctic Spas in a business park near Littleport in Cambridgeshire, said: 'We were closed between Christmas and New Year and only found it had gone when we came back to pick up some paperwork.

'It is bizarre that someone has just walked off with it. We're on a main road where thousands of vehicles go past each day. We thought it was a joke at first.

'We think the tub must have been carried 80ft through a field to a vehicle on the main road.

'They did drop it because we found bits of it in the ditch, although it wasn't fundamental damage that will stop it from working.'

Her husband, Steve, added: 'Police think it was stolen to order. It would have taken at least four people to shift it. It's a major thing to steal something of that size. And they had specialist equipment to cut off the electricity.

'You wouldn't cut through your kettle cable at home which is 13 amps and this was a 32-amp electric cable. If you or I did that we wouldn't have much hair left.'

The couple are hoping the thieves haven't made a 'clean' getaway, however, as police have told them they have an idea who the culprits are, despite there being no CCTV in the area.

Cambridgeshire police said the tub was stolen between Tuesday and Saturday last week.

A spokesman said: 'Unknown persons have entered the area by cutting open a metal fence panel and have stolen a hot tub which was connected up to the mains outside the showroom.

'The hot tub was carried away through the opened fence and over a ditch into a field next to the unit.'

Source : dailymail