Heartless crooks have broken into a Tadley primary school and taken hundreds of pounds worth of children’s Christmas presents.
Now the outraged head of Burnham Copse Primary School has called on parents and the community to help bring the callous burglars to justice.
And police investigating the break-in have backed headteacher Lyn Downes’ call.
It is thought that around 15 hooded and masked youths entered the grounds of the Newchurch Road school at 8pm on Monday.
They broke into a shed and took more than £500 worth of festive items.
These included presents bought by the school for the youngsters, Christmas tree lights and cans of drink being stored for the Parent Teacher Association’s annual Christmas fair on December 15.
Burnham Copse has 200 youngsters aged four to 11 from Tadley and Baughurst.
The devastation left by the raiders was cleared up by staff late on Monday night before the children came back to school.
Ms Downes said: “The children are outraged, as are their parents, and more so the older siblings who have left this school and realise that it is probably kids at their school who were responsible.
“The school are relying on local knowledge to track down members of this group, who must have planned the raid knowing full well they were stealing from small children under the cover of trick and treat festivities.”
A police spokesperson said: “We’ve had a report of a burglary. We got the call at 8.20pm on Monday. It’s not clear in terms of the information that we have been given what exactly has been taken at this stage.”
Ms Downes said during the break-in, the gang vandalised the inside of the shed by spraying canisters of tomato ketchup and mustard.
“There must be parents in Tadley who are aware of the stolen items appearing in their house, as well as garments soiled with black sticky paint from the school fences,” she said.
“We are appealing to them to come forward to work with us in nipping this behaviour in the bud and preventing an escalation.”
Anyone with information about the burglary is urged to call PC Dean Strickland at Basingstoke police station on 101 or Crimestopper,s anonymously, on 0800 555111.
