Wandsworth has been hit by a spate of convenience store robberies which police believe to be linked, we can reveal.

Detective Superintendent Gerry Campbell, of Wandsworth police, this week confirmed “a number of robberies” had taken place since the beginning of November which officers suspect are connected.

He said: “I’m working on the basis that I don’t think there’s just one or two people committing these offences.

“I think they are linked to a number of different people who may well be connected to each other.”

The AJ Convenience Store, in Winstanley Road, Battersea, was robbed twice in the space of a week by masked thugs. Two robbers - one of who wielded a samurai sword - struck at 5pm on December 18 and three days later three masked raiders bungled a fresh attempt to rob the shop.

The nearby East Hill Food and Wine, in East Hill Road, was also targeted on December 21 by three young men who had their faces covered. Five days earlier the store had been robbed of £600 by two men in balaclavas who burst into the shop carrying a knife.

Det Supt Campbell said the borough had a dedicated team investigating the robberies, and stressed officers were “working with other specialist Met departments to tackle the problem”.

He added one man had already been arrested and charged in relation to one robbery.

Police have yet to disclose information about a robbery by three masked men, which is understood to have taken place at Londis, in Franciscan Road, Tooting, at about 10pm on January 10. However, Det Supt Campbell said officers were not linking it to the previous raids in the borough.

Anyone with information about any of the robberies should call Jon McPhee of the Priority Crime Unit on 020 8247 8770 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Kieron Woods, 18, of Ritherdon Road, Tooting, is due to appear at South Western Magistrates' Court on March 16 charged with robbery.