Police are hunting two men who broke into a Chester beauty salon twice in a matter of days, before fleeing with thousands of pounds worth of cash and products.

CCTV images released by Cheshire police show the suspects they want to trace in connection with the two burglaries at the Utopia salon at the Total Fitness gym on Liverpool Road.

They first targeted the salon, owned by Joanne McArdle and her mum Jan, during the night of September 17-18, making off with almost £3,500 in cash.

Because they had prised the window open, nobody at the gym noticed there had been a break-in until salon staff arrived at 9am to discover they were missing thousands of pounds.

Joanne told The Chronicle: "They took nothing else that time, just cash. Then just a couple of days later, on the night of September 20, our sister salon at Total Fitness Wrexham was burgled and had their cash drawer taken.

"They didn't get as much because the alarms went off, but it seems the thieves went straight from Wrexham back to Chester again and broke into the nursery unit next door to our salon. I think they took a few things from there before coming back to our salon.

"We'd had the window fixed so they smashed their way in and took tip money, and this time took around £7,000 worth of beauty and hair products," she said.

Joanne, who had to cancel a day's worth of clients because of how much stock had been taken, added: "We just feel this is a calculated plan really, the way they've come back a second time. You get to grips with it happening once then it happens again just days later.

"Thankfully we are insured and are now operating as normal but it has affected all the team. We've been here for 14 years and never ever experienced anything like this. For two incidents to happen within such a close amount of time, and knowing people out there are so calculated and devious - it's quite scary.

"They targeted cash that first night and the products the second time, it's almost like they knew."

Detective Sergeant Nick Henderson from Cheshire police said: "This was a well organised and planned crime. We would appeal to anyone who saw activity around Total Fitness at the time to contact police on 101.

"We are particularly interested in a dark coloured hatchback car seen leaving the car park at speed following the incident.

"A male arrested last week for burglary offences has been granted bail but we will continue in our efforts to bring the offenders to justice. Our community officers continue to provide support and advice to local businesses on security to ensure that this does not happen again."

Alternatively information can be reported anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.