Passers-by must have done a double-take when they saw a large safe lying outside the church hall in Llanfoist early one morning.

But postmistress Wendy Shaw (pictured) is hoping that someone actually witnessed the would-be thieves struggling to transfer it into a getaway vehicle during the night…

It’s possible they were defeated by the sheer weight of what they were attempting to steal, but it’s equally possible they were disturbed in the process and drove off in a hurry…

Wendy has been running the post office at the back of the church hall on Merthyr Road, the main road through Llanfoist, for the past nine years. She lives opposite but was unaware of the burglary until the next day.

The thieves must have thought they were tooled up for the task, with crowbars, an axe and a large sack truck.

“They jemmied a toilet window to get in. They then tried to smash the parcel hatch with an axe but when that didn’t work they jemmied that too,” she said.

“The safe is enormous. It was bolted to the floor and weighs over a ton but they managed to get it out to the front of the building using the sack truck.

“It was still tied to the sack truck when two local ladies who look after the hall found it there the next morning and came over to tell me.

“It took three burly men - one from BT who came to reconnect the phone, one from the alarm company and one from the window replacement firm - to drag it back inside!”

The safe containing money and stamps was still intact but the post office had to be closed for a week while the damage to fixtures and fittings was repaired and a new safe installed.

“The burglary happened overnight between Thursday February 18 and Friday 19. The post office isn’t open on Fridays and the safe is programmed not to be opened on days when I’m not working,” said Wendy. “It’s not surprising they couldn’t break into it on site - I wouldn’t be able to open it myself!

“It would certainly have taken more than one person to get it out of the building, even with the right equipment. If they were thinking ‘small post office, small safe’ they were in for a shock.

“Unfortunately the CCTV cameras on the nearby garage are pointing in a different direction, but it’s a well-lit area so I’m hoping someone passing by might have seen them or seen their vehicle parked outside on the road.”

Officially the break-in happened between 6pm on the Thursday and 9am the next day but it’s known that the phone line was cut at around midnight.

“I’m pretty sure those involved must have been into the post office before to study the layout,” said Wendy.

If you have any information you think might help to solve the crime, please call Gwent Police on 101 quoting log number 96 19/02/16.