'Devastation' as burglars trash cricket clubhouse

Members of a community-run cricket club in Derby were left "close to tears" after its clubhouse was trashed in a "mindless" burglary.

Allestree Cricket Club discovered its facility had been broken into on Sunday night, with more than £2,500 worth of damage caused.

Furniture and toilets were damaged along with team trophies and a number of items were taken from behind the bar.

Derbyshire Police said it was investigating the burglary and has urged anyone with information to come forward.

The club was set up in 1860 and has been based at the Allestree Recreation Ground for more than 120 years.

While the club had been broken into "once or twice over the years", its director James Windscheffel, said it had never faced deliberate damage on this scale.

"It's not even just someone coming in and rooting around trying to find something and off they go," he said.

"They've gone in and they've tried to cause as much damage as they possibly can do and leave the club in an absolute state."

Club members had only recently upgraded the facility with new benches in changing rooms, fresh paint and new seating in the social area.

Repairs to the clubhouse and replacing stolen items are expected to cost upwards of £2,500.

The teams' trophies and photographs were also damaged, Mr Windscheffel said.

He added the cricket club rented the council-owned pavilion for a "peppercorn rent" and it was not a large "fashionable" club with significant cash reserves.

"To see the devastation that they [the perpetrators] caused - and it is devastation - it's a lump in the throat moment," he said.

He added: "This is just nasty, nasty behaviour and it serves no purpose.

"Nobody's running down the road with a haul of gold and silver on their back, it's just damage.

"The impact it has on others must always be greater than any warped satisfaction they get at the time."

Despite the upset the break-in caused, Mr Windscheffel said he and club were heartened by more than £4,000 in donations made to a crowdfunding page it set up in the hopes of raising repair funds.

The club said a clean-up operation started on Tuesday, after police forensic officers had left the scene.

A spokesperson for Derbyshire Police said: "Officers are investigating a burglary at Allestree Cricket Club sometime between 20:00 BST on Saturday 31 May and 08:20 BST on Monday."

"A quantity of alcohol and equipment was stolen along with damage caused to the premises."

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