A LARGE number of tools — estimated at around £4,000 — were stolen in a double burglary in the Stamford Hill area of Stratton over the weekend.
The items were stolen from a padlocked storage container at the side of a property; the first between 4pm on Friday, March 27 and 2.15pm the following day, and the second between 5pm on Sunday, March 29 and 7.30am the following day.
Owner of the storage container, Simon Porter, said the cost of the tools stolen runs into thousands. Many of these were personal tools that belonged to the men who are self
contractors that work with Simon.
"We're all local lads and they can't afford to replace them with the current market as it is. Some of them are young chaps in their 20s. Others have had the tools passed to them from their dads."
The workers come from Holsworthy, Bude, Hatherleigh and surrounding areas. The tools included a number of power tools and two walkie talkies.
The first break-in was discovered by one of Mr Porter's colleagues, who found the container had been broken into and the majority of the tools taken.
Staff took away what they could of the remaining items on Saturday and relocked the container.
But Mr Porter was shocked that, after the first break-in, the offenders returned on the Sunday and broke in again. He added: "Fortunately by the second time they had taken most of the valuable stuff away. There's definitely an indication that the people knew where to put their vehicles out of the way."
He has been in contact with the police, but they are not very optimistic that the items will be recovered.
Mr Porter has appealed to anyone who is offered the tools for sale or if they spot them at car boot sales to contact the police.
He has also notified the pubs in the Bude area to ask customers to be aware of the incident if they are offered any goods.
Mr Porter said he moved down to the area from London around five years ago and hoped to get away from such crime.
If anyone has any information regarding the incidents, please contact PC Theobald at Bude Police Station on 08452 777444, quoting log reference numbers BU/09/160 and BU/09/169.