A 40-YEAR-old woman has been charged with conspiracy to rob Co-op and Tesco shops after being arrested following an armed raid at Laxfield village stores.

Anna Spina became the third person to be charged after answering bail at Suffolk Constabulary’s Martlesham police investigation centre.

Two men are due to appear before Norwich Crown Court for a preliminary hearing of their cases today.

A police spokesman said Spina, of Newport Pagnell Road, Northampton, is scheduled to make her first appearance on the charge before Norwich Magistrates Court on December 13.

Spina is accused of conspiring to commit robbery between April 24 and September 5 at Northampton or elsewhere with Daniel Bage and Shaun Martin at Co-op or Tesco stores.

Two men are alleged to have raided the Co-op stores and post office in High Street, Laxfield, at just after 6.15am on September 5.

They were reported to have entered the shop and threatened a staff member with, what is believed to be, a screwdriver.

The men demanded to know where the safe was and, after entering an office, took money from a safe.

The men made off with a quantity of cash, leaving in a black VW Golf in the direction of Stradbroke.

Staff members at the shop were left shaken from the incident, but unharmed.

A vehicle was subsequently found abandoned in Rushbrooke, near Bury St Edmunds.

Bage, 29, of no fixed address, has been charged with three counts of robbery including a robbery which happened at the Co-op store in Church Street, Sheringham, on August 8.

He is also charged with a robbery at the Co-op store in Clenchwarton, Norfolk on August 22 and the village store and post office in Laxfield.

Bage also faces an allegation of dangerous driving.

Martin, 34, from Darwin Walk in Northampton, was originally charged in connection the incident in Laxfield.