A MAN was arrested in Portsmouth yesterday evening in connection with robberies carried out at two bookmakers earlier this week.

On Wednesday a man wearing suit and armed with a hammer raided the Ladbrokes shop in Christchurch Road, Boscombe East, and the following day Coral in Castle Lane West was also robbed by a man wielding a knife.

CCTV footage was released in connection with both incidents, and police said they believed the same man carried out both attacks.

The arrested man, who is in police custody while further enquiries are made, was also arrested in connection with a robbery yesterday at Ladbrokes in Leith Avenue, Portchester, Hampshire.