Fifth break-in at Valley Stadium - The Redditch Standard

Fifth break-in at Valley Stadium

Redditch Editorial 9th Oct, 2014 Updated: 18th Oct, 2016   0

‘MINDLESS thieves’ have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to Redditch United after the club was broken into for the fifth time in two years.

The Valley Stadium ground was targeted by offenders who broke in through a top floor window between 6pm on Sunday (October 5) and 8.30am on Monday (October 6).

The thieves then raided the building damaging several doors and smashing two gaming machines which they then stole hundreds of pounds from.

The club has been repeatedly targeted since first being broken into in October 2012 with further incidents in December of that year and January last year, when £2,000 worth of damage was caused when vandals poured 22 gallons of beer around the bar, destroyed a pool table and stole charity money. The club was hit again in June this year prior to this latest burglary.




Club chairman Chris Swan told the Standard: “It is thousands of pounds worth of damage which no club can afford.

“We have 30 kids teams and the first teams doing well and things like this happen.


“It is very, very debilitating for us. We put in all this work and then mindless thieves do this and you just think ‘what was the point?’ sometimes.

“We don’t keep money in the tills, so often they will cause all this damage to walk away with a couple of pounds.”

PC Martyn Dudley, investigating officer, said it appeared the offence was carried out by someone who knew the layout of the clubhouse and police would look to increase patrols around the Valley Stadium as well as explore linking the club’s alarm to the police station.

“It is as isolated as you can get and that makes it vulnerable. The club is reinforcing its security but it appears there are people determined to get in. It seems to be a different offender every time.” he said.

Anyone with any information about the break-in should contact police on 101.

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