Vulnerable hit as tools stolen from Broseley skills centre

Staff at Broseley Life Skills, a social enterprise which teaches people with disabilities, have been left devastated after thieves took some of its vital equipment.

The organisation is run by mother and daughter Joanna and Leanne Horler, who said they were "gutted" about the burglary.

Power washers, a hammer drill, a chainsaw, and a Makita drill were all taken.

Some of the tools are used to teach garden skills, while others are used with construction and repairs of the building, which the pair have renovated mostly by themselves.

On Sunday night, just hours after Joanna had visited the site, burglars drove up to the building and stole the items.

Leanne said they could see tracks where the vehicle had crossed a farmer's fields to get to them.

They believe the vehicle may have been damaged after driving over a concrete block on the edge of the fields as oil could be seen leading from the base at Little Posenhall Farm, through into Broseley.

Leanne, who lives in Broseley said: "Mum got a call from the owner of the other business on Monday saying you had better come down.

"They had driven right up to the container, broke the locks off and took all the power tools and things.

"My mum had bought the drill with her birthday money and that had been taken, it was worth about £145. A chainsaw was gone, two power washers, a petrol strimmer, hammer drill, a big spirit level.

"They had damaged the locks and forks and tools.

"We keep them in the container because the buildings are quite old so we thought they would be safer but if they want to get them, they are going to."

The attack comes just as the pair were today unveiling a Polytunnel they bought two weeks ago with money from Awards for All National Lottery Fund.

It will be used to grow things that people attending the centre can cook in other workshops.

Leanne, said: "I just cried all Monday morning, I was thinking of my poor mum because she works so hard, she is here every day. It is heart-wrenching, especially because she was so happy when we got the tools."

The pair moved the operation into the unit in March of last year, setting up the business after they were both made redundant from their work at a residential care home in Wellington after a number of years.

Leanne said: "We were doing a bit of care work in the community and we started running cooking workshops in my mum's home.

"But we got so big we had to find our own premises.

"We run all sorts of workshops for people with learning disabilities, people with dementia, people with strokes.

"Some of them are people who are going to go on to live independently so we help them get life skills.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on the non-emergency 101 number quoting incident 202S of August 28. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org