Vile vandals urinate over and ransack kids scout hut

One 10-year-old said the incident has left him sad

A community has been left in total shock after vandals broke into a Devon scout hut. They ransacked the place, destroyed equipment and even urinated and poured glue all over the floor.

Volunteers arrived at the 4th Teignmouth Scout Group's headquarters on Park Hill on September 5 to find the site in a state of total disarray. The perpetrators are believed to have climbed, forced open the fire door sometime between August 27 and September 5.

Once inside, they launched a catastrophic attack on the building, destroying equipment, fire extinguishers and first aid kits, poured glue and varnish over the carpet and urinated in all the electrical appliances in the kitchen and on the carpet. They then made off with whittling knives.

After the scene was discovered, police were called. The scout group says fingerprints and swabs have been taken but no arrests have been made.

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Devon & Cornwall Police has confirmed that their investigation is ongoing. A spokesperson for the force said: "Police were called following a break-in at Teignmouth scout hut believed to have taken place on 24 August. It was reported that entry to the premises had been forced, substantial damage caused to the hut and items stolen. Enquiries are ongoing."

Jo Saxton, 4th Teignmouth Scout Group Leader, said: "Our Scout Group is an important part of Teignmouth’s community, and over the past 125 years has offered thousands of young people the opportunities to develop life skills, have adventures, work as a team and take on new challenges while having fun with their friends.

"This incident has caused great upset to all our young members and volunteers, who were unable to use the hut for a few weeks while a deep clean took place and replacement safety equipment was purchased. Thankfully Teignmouth Town Council kindly offered us the use of Bitton House in the meantime and also generously installed a new security camera on site.

"If you have any information that could help catch whoever did this, please contact Devon and Cornwall Police by calling 101 and quoting crime reference number 50240225563.

"There is evidence that someone is still climbing the security fencing to access the area outside of the hut, so if you are nearby, please keep an eye out for anything suspicious and report it. If you would rather do this anonymously you can phone Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111."

Young scouts themselves have also been left devastated, questioning why someone would want to do this. 10-year-old Archie said: "I'm really sad that this happened. We put a lot of time and effort in to making our little hut a place where we can come to have fun, learn new things and feel safe. I don’t understand why someone was trying to ruin that and take something away from us.

"The volunteers work hard to plan activities for us, and we all fundraise to support the group, so it’s disappointing that their time and some of the money we’ve collected this year through our Rabbit Run and Airshow car park has had to be spent sorting this mess out."

There are currently plans to replace the hut and neighbouring buildings as part of a multi-million pound project to improve facilities for young people in Teignmouth.

Jo continued: "We get two or three enquiries each week from parents and carers hoping to sign their child up, and the waiting list is quite long. If we had more volunteers we could take more members, so if anyone is interested in being a part of this worthwhile organisation we would love to hear from you, just email teignmouthgsl@gmail.com."

The group is still planning to go ahead with their activities, including a 'Sprouts for Scout' fundraising event in Teignmouth Triangle on Saturday, December 7.