Children and staff at a village pre-school have been left devastated after a break-in.
Thieves climbed in through a small window of a mobile building used by Little Stars in Surfleet and got away with two iPads used by the children and a laptop belonging to pre-school owner Bev Gromett.
Just 24 hours later, thieves struck at a kids club in Pinchbeck – again based in a mobile building – and stole a safe containing £600.
The money was earmarked for summer holiday activities, leaving plans up in the air.
Police are now investigating both break-ins, which Bev and Pinchbeck Kids’ Club’s Emma Mackey believe are just the latest in a spate of thefts from children’s groups.
The Little Stars iPads had been bought with the proceeds of fundraising efforts over the past year and a half since the group opened, and Bev said the theft had left her feeling “gutted”.
She said: “I’ve been in tears because of it.
“It’s heartbreaking because we had put a lot of effort into fundraising to buy the iPads for the children to use and someone has just smashed the window and taken them.
“The iPads are used by the children for all sorts of educational number and letter games and being able to use one is a valuable skill for them to have by the time they start school.
“We are insured but it’s not the point. Everyone is really upset, but we have had some fantastic support from Surfleet Primary School and the parents.
“From a personal point of view, the other thing that was stolen was my laptop and back-up, which had all the information about the business for the past two years.
“It’s everything I’ve worked for over the past 18 months – right down to the pre-school’s logo.”
The break-in happened during the night on Sunday, May 22.
Pinchbeck Kids’ Club was broken into at around 6.30am last Tuesday, with an image of the lone male thief caught on Pinchbeck East Primary School’s CCTV.
Emma said: “Unfortunately you can’t see his face, but we can see that he came in at about 6.30am – just an hour before we were due to arrive for the day.
“He took the safe, which had about £600 in it as well as all the receipt books which show what the parents had paid.
“We are a charity, so all the money we take goes back to providing activities for the children, so effectively they have stolen from the children.
“We are pretty devastated and everything is now up in the air – we don’t know if we are coming or going trying to sort everything out.
“It’s despicable.”
