A CHARITY has been targeted in a spate of thefts and vandalism that have seen wheelchairs and hundreds of pounds worth of scrap stolen.

Warrington Disability Partnership’s base in Sankey Bridges has been subjected to five break-ins and one arson attack over the last few months.

Items including wheelchairs and lithium batteries with a scrap value of more than £500 were taken during the incidents.

The trouble at the charity’s base on Beaufort Street began when young vandals set fire to a bin next to the building, causing £300 worth of damage.

Dave Thompson, WDP’s cofounder and chief executive, said: “Fortunately we’ve been able to identify the young lads – we’ve had each of them in individually, took them around the centre and showed them the damage that they could’ve potentially caused.

“All three of the lads left feeling a little bit shorter but hopefully it would have educated them and made a very big impact.

“It wouldn’t have taken two minutes for the windows to go up, the fire would have gone inside and the next thing the building would have been on fire.”

Thankfully, the intervention of a neighbouring resident stopped the blaze from causing any more serious damage.

But teenagers then stole a gazebo and wheelchairs from the charity in three separate incidents.

Dave added: “Stealing wheelchairs is the lowest of the low – it’s scandalous and that’s from our fleet that we loan to disabled people and people coming out of hospital.

“It’s really bad when kids stoop that low.”

But Dave said that the worst incident had been two thefts that saw more than £500 worth of scrap lithium batteries.

He said: “These thieves are men with baseball caps and sunglasses on at 4am who have come armed with industrial bolt cutters and cut through the fence.

“The first theft affected about 10 people, many of them disabled, in the building – we were all getting involved in trying to repair the fence, retrieve the bins and tidy up the mess.

“It disrupted their jobs helping disabled people – it’s terrible.

The charity has had to spend a further £500 on a storage container to house their scrap in order to prevent future thefts.

Showroom coordinator Tommy Hammond added: “To us, the scrap value is a few hundred quid that could be put towards buying another two or three wheelchairs for the loan service – it could take six or seven people a whole weekend to raise £500 for us.

“Its money they’re taking from the community basically and these are grown guys who knew exactly what they were doing and came prepared.

“For me, it took up half of my day because I’ve got to go through the CCTV and deal with the police – it’s time I’m not spending with customers and giving information and advice out which is what I’m here for.”

Do you know the men pictured in the CCTV images? Call Cheshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.