Teens' lead theft left school facing £22k damage bill

TEENAGERS who stripped lead from the roof of a North Devon school caused damage that will cost more than £20,000 to put right, a court heard.

Coursework belonging to more than 50 pupils was also damaged after the offenders ripped the lead from the roof of Park Community School in Barnstaple with their bare hands.

Michael David Winter, 18, of Victoria Street, Barnstaple, and three 17-year-olds who cannot be named for legal reasons, have all pleaded guilty to theft on October 30 last year.

David Burgess, for the prosecution, said there was a question over the cost of damage caused by taking the lead.

A figure of £21,925 had been given, which included £12,500 for replacing three roof lights.

He told magistrates in Barnstaple the school was not covered by insurance, so repairs would have to come from its budget.

But solicitors defending the boys have questioned the value of replacement work.

Mr Burgess said: "We are dealing with theft. The motivation was the scrap value of the lead, not to cause damage to the school."

Magistrates were also told water had got into the building as a result, damaging coursework belonging to more than 50 students.

Tim Hook, defending Winter, said the 18-year-old was involved for about an hour in removing some pieces of lead which were put in two domestic wheelie bins.

He had been taking hold of it with his bare hands and pulling it away from where it was joined to the masonry.

He said one of the others involved had been told that the lead had a value of around £800 for a certain weight.

He said: "This was completely without any form of sophistication, with no tools and just bare hands.

"It was a wholly misguided and completely unsophisticated exercise that has had financial repercussions which are beyond some relatively old pieces of lead."

Tony Dart, defending two of the 17-year-olds and Rod Ball, defending the third 17-year-old, both said more information was needed from the Crown Prosecution Service about the damage caused and consequential loss.

Magistrates said: "The monetary value will be a factor that will be taken into account and we need a much clearer idea of the financial consequences that followed on from the removal of the lead and the state of the sky lights that need to be replaced because the lead was removed."

The case was adjourned until February 28.

Park Community School headteacher David Atton said the lead theft had extremely serious consequences for the school.

He said: "Our insurance will not cover this damage so we are having to foot the bill from the school budget.

"We do have a contingency fund for unexpected events but we never expected vandalism on this scale. It's a huge amount of money.

"As a result we will carry less money forward next year – that's £22,000 that could have been spent on learning resources for the future.

"One of our English rooms was badly flooded as a result of the theft. Water leaked through the roof and destroyed some English course work.

"The pupils have had to redo this work and the teachers have also had to re-mark it.

"As well as being wanton vandalism, this act also placed the culprits in very serious danger.

"Had they slipped on the wet roof in the night someone could have been seriously injured. It was a huge risk."

In September last year two teenage boys were imprisoned for drunkenly smashing 250 windows with a golf club at Park Community School. The repair bill was more than £18,000.