Break in at Shropshire sailing club

The break-in was discovered at Shropshire Sailing Club, at Whitemere, near Ellesmere, with thefts and damage combined likely to cost in the region of £18,000.

Bryn Morton, Bosun at the club, said everything was locked up and secured but the thieves had simply cut through locks and even wrenched a hole in the side of one corrugated iron building.

He said the damage was discovered on Tuesday afternoon and police had been down to the site today. The club held a busy open day on Sunday, and there was a possibility the thieves had come along as part of that to plan their raid, he said.

Mr Morton said: "We think it happened on Monday night.

"First they got in through the side of our Nissen hut – we've got a great big door that they can't get through so they prised the corrugated iron side away just enough to get one person through.

"They took one engine from there and they damaged another, probably because they couldn't get it off, we think."

He said they then broke into the boat house at the club where there were two more boats. They lifted a second engine there, again damaging another that they apparently couldn't shift.

"Somehow they got a three-horse power engine off the boat, up the steps, out and through hedge so we think there must have been three or four of them to do that," he said.

"It's a bit annoying after the high of Sunday when everything was running and everything was going fine.

"We have had to cancel tonight's sailing because we have no safety cover," he added.

He said the club was now faced with the task of getting insurance quotes, finding replacements and sorting out repairs as soon as possible in order to get things up and running again.

Anyone with information, or who saw anyone acting suspiciously around the club, is asked to contact West Mercia Police on 101.