Defibrillator charity devastated as thugs strike twice in two days
Thugs went on a rampage and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to a lifesaving charity's storage – twice in two days.
AED Donate, based in Stone, was burgled overnight between Saturday and Sunday and then again the following night.
Devastated volunteers arrived at work in High Street on both days to discover crooks damaged their CCTV, broke into their shed and stole a number of items from their charity shop storage.
The money raised in the charity shop goes towards the maintenance and ongoing costs of lifesaving defibrillators in the town and over the two nights, it is estimated they caused the charity around £3,000 worth of damage.
It comes only days after the charity was nominated for four national awards.
But news of the break-ins have been met with an outpouring of support by the public who have donated items for it's charity shop, which is also in High Street, to sell.
Chief Executive of AED Donate, Jamie Richards, said: "This is devastating. We are a local charity and we only have a small team of five people who all work very hard.
"We started the week on a high because we have been nominated for four national awards. Then all of this happened and we do not have the time to sort it out.
"They ruined our stock by smashing and treading on it then destroyed the door to the shed so the remaining items were soaked because of the wet weather. They stole a couple of weeks worth of stock.
"It is just awful, we have never had any trouble then we got it twice in two nights.
"We have saved a couple of lives recently with the work that we do. Things like this get in the way of that important work.
"Members of the public have been really brilliant and very supportive of us. We cannot thank them enough."
A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: "We were called at 1pm on Sunday 28 October to report an overnight burglary at AED Donate on High Street, Stone.
"Unknown offenders had entered a shed at the back of the premises and stolen a number of items used to stock the charity shop.
"CCTV at the back of the property was damaged during the incident.
"A second burglary at the same premises was also reported to us on Monday morning (29 October) and further items had been stolen from the shed.
"Enquiries are on-going. Any witnesses should call Staffordshire Police on 101 quoting incident 420 of 28 October."
