A DEFIANT shop owner is determined to go through with his planned extension - despite suffering a third break-in in two years.

Two hairdressers on the Wombwell's High Street were broken into recently.

The relatively new business His 'n' Hers had the shutters pulled up and glass smashed whilst L.A.K.A were hit when their fire exit was levered open.

Andy Boyne, the owner of L.A.K.A, remains determined to open up a ladies and children's shoe shop in the back of his current store.

"I've persuaded the wife that we should stay," said Andy, who comes from outside Manchester.

"After the second break-in we did say that if it happened again then we would move but we want to go ahead and we will put in some expensive security cameras. It will be worth it."

Thieves previously got in through the roof of the building and Andy feels the culprit was familiar with hairdressing products.

"The chair that we have looks really heavy but it's actually hollow and it was thrown into the middle of the room as though they were checking to see if there was anything in it," he added.

"The place was turned upside down. I had £1,000 worth of electrical products stolen but we've put a message out on Facebook for people to look out for anyone trying to sell them.

"They're specialist products from London, they're not something that's available in Barnsley so they should stand out."

A large number of shops on the street have been broken into within the last year and Sgt Phil Jenkins is calling on local businesses to 'beef up' their security systems if they can afford to.

He said: "Unfortunately small businesses are always going to be vulnerable.

"The banks, the post office and the supermarkets don't have burglaries because they're protected.

"A good alarm system should be a bare minimum. We have been around all the shops and told them not to leave anything out when they close.

"We patrol the high street relentlessly but we can't be there all the time and it only takes a moment to break in."

Police are to study CCTV footage in the area and are also appealing for witnesses.