UK COMPUTERS AND EQUIPMENT STOLEN FROM PRE-SCHOOL Newbury Today | Crime spree in Chieveley

Crime spree in Chieveley

Fri, November 02 2007

Thieves break into village hall, church and doctor's surgery all in the same night to steal equipment

THIEVES broke into Chieveley village hall last weekend and stole computer equipment belonging to the local pre-school for the second time this term. The burglars broke into the hall, where the school is based, on October 21 and stole a computer and a combination photocopier, printer and scanner. They broke in to the village hall through a fire door and damaged a locked storage cupboard when they forced it open. The equipment had been donated to the school from Microsoft after its previous IT equipment was also stolen in a separate incident in October. During the same night as the first raid, thieves also broke into Chieveley church, stealing £20, and the local doctors’ surgery. In the first incident, the thieves broke open a filing cabinet which had to be replaced and managed to take just £10 from a petty cash tin after breaking into the building through the football changing rooms. Pre-school treasurer, Marla Langdon, said: “When they cause so much damage to gain so little you almost just want to staple a tenner to the front door to stop people breaking in.” The theft has left the charity-run pre-school without any computer equipment, which forms a vital part of the pupil’s national curriculum. Mrs Langdon appealed to anyone with a spare computer, capable of running basic CD-ROM programmes, to donate it to the pre-school so that the children can continue learning basis IT Skills. Anyone who would like to donate computer equipment to the school should contact them on 07788 841128. Police have asked anyone with information about this burglary to contact them on 08458 505505 or call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555111.