Four people have been arrested after cyber-attacks hit several Marks & Spencer and Co-op stores in Swindon.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) says the four suspects, aged between 17 and 20 years old, were arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of blackmail, and money laundering.

The arrests also included offences linked to the Computer Misuse Act and participating in the activities of an organised crime group.

A 20-year-old woman was detained in Staffordshire, and three males aged between 17 and 19 were apprehended in London and the West Midlands.

All four were arrested at their homes and remain in custody, with electronic devices also being seized by police.

The arrests come after cyber-attacks hit some of the nation's most high-profile high street stores in April, causing months of major disruption.

M&S was forced to pause online orders and had to shut down its website for six weeks from Easter Sunday, as well as facing shortages in certain food items in some stores.

Recommended reading

The department store's chair Archie Norman told MPs earlier this week it felt like the hack was an attempt to destroy its business, with the retailer estimated to have lost £300 million.

There are four M&S stores in Swindon, based in Mannington Retail Park, the Orbital Shopping Park, the Designer Outlet and Marlborough Road.

Customers who tried to contact the Mannington and Orbital stores during the hack were met with the following recorded message: "As part of our proactive management of a cyber incident, we have made the decision to pause taking orders on our website, on the M&S app and over the phone."

Callers were also reminded that the M&S product range remains available to browse with stores remaining open as normal.

The Co-op was forced to shut down parts of its IT systems in April after also being targeted by the hackers.

However, a spokesperson for the retailer confirmed in May that all stores, including in Swindon, were trading as usual and that they were "working hard to reduce any disruption to our services" for customers.

The company still saw payments disrupted and shelves become bare from May due to the fallout from the cyber-attack, with hackers also stealing Co-op members' personal data.

The men arrested include a 17-year-old British male from the West Midlands, a 19-year-old British man from London, and a 19-year-old Latvian male from the West Midlands.