Gang raids on schools (From Stroud News and Journal)

Gang raids on schools

A SERIES of raids on primary schools in the Five Valleys is being linked to the same gang of thieves.

Three schools have been targeted in less than a week and have been robbed of computers and expensive electrical equipment.

police suspect the same gang is behind all the burglaries and have urged schools to tighten up security.

Each time thieves have gone for brand new hardware and left outmoded equipment untouched.

"It would appear that schools are being targeted," said Sgt Clark Atkinson of Stroud police."

Stone School off the A38 was the first to be hit by the thieves in late February.

But this week the gang raided three schools in three days.

Bisley Blue Coat School was the first to be hit with the gang striking overnight on Thursday, March 7.

A door was prised open with a crow bar and then the burglars forced internal doors to get to high-tech equipment.

They also broke in to three cabins which are used as classrooms.

"They stole computers, TV's, telephones, cash and other electrical items," said police spokesman Ruth McDonnagh.

Angry parent Nick Sales said it looked like professional criminals at work, not just opportunist thieves.

"It was a real professional job they knew what they were doing, it was not just local hooligans trying to get their drug money," he said.

"They spray-foamed the alarms, disabled the security lighting and they knew what they were looking for."

School was cancelled for the day when the break-in was discovered on Friday morning and while the children were excited at first it soon dawned on them that this was going to have a knock-on effect.

"Our insurance premiums will go up which means the children will suffer - there won't be as much money available for nice things like school trips or for their education," Judith Sales, parent govenor.

"It's just a vicious circle and extremely frustrating."

"The children were sent home and had to wait in the church and WI hall until parents came to pick them up."

Luckily the school records are backed up so that information has not been lost but everything on the classroom computers has been lost.

"The things stored on them will be no use to the thieves but were important to the teachers and the children," said Mrs Sales.

Prep school Beaudesert Park in Minchinhampton and the Cotswold Chine school in Box were both targeted on Saturday night.

At Beaudesert thieves forced a fire door, smashed through internal doors and removed a toughened glass window to get to the computer room. They escaped with valuable high-tech equipment.

At the Chine a window was forced open and several computers were moved but nothing had been taken leading police to believe the thieves may have been disturbed.

Anyone with information on any of these burglaries is asked to call Stroud police on 0845 0901234.

SB