HEARTLESS THIEVES TARGET FOOD CHARITIES
> JOSH LAYTON REPORTS:
BURGLARS are targeting food charities as they try to scale up their supply lines to meet rising levels of demand amid the Covid19 pandemic.
Thieves struck at Coventry’s social supermarket last week, stealing food parcels, emptying shelves of supplies and carrying away the charity’s safe.
Disgust and condemnation greeted the raid and it prompted a rallying effort by groups, businesses and individuals to replace the stolen supplies.
However, the break-in at Feeding Coventry’s service in Foleshill on May 6 is just one of several that have taken place around the country where burglars have carried out or attempted raids stealing large quantities of food and other items.
Rather than being acts of desperation, the string of raids involved a degree of planning and were carried out by gangs equipped with vans and trucks.
Certain types of food have a high resale value on the black market, according to the Centre for Retail Research. Cheese is one of the items in high demand along with packed meats, such as steak, lamb and bacon, which can be sold door-to-door or in pubs and clubs, the analysis suggests.
Two raids on charities took place in the run-up to the burglary in Coventry, which deprived the affordable supermarket, based in the refurbished Foleshill Community Centre, of between £2,000 and £3,000 of food that had been destined for some of the city’s most needy people.
On March 18, a charity in West Yorkshire was forced to temporarily close after thieves broke into a storage container and made off with essentials. Knottingley Foodbank was thought to have been struck by four men who were observed loading up donations from the container.
Two weeks later, a stolen dump truck was used in an attempt to break into a storage container storing donated supplies in Peterlee, East Durham. The would-be thieves were disturbed before they could break in, but the attempt damaged many items of food, including products in glass jars and a quantity of eggs, which had been intended for distribution by a local foodbank.
Further raids also took place last year.
In January, thieves struck at Oldham Foodbank in Greater Manchester, ransacking an office and stealing food, password-protected tablets, £200 in public donations and a hard drive.
Burglars also struck in December, smashing their way into New Forest Basics Bank in Lymington, Hampshire, and attempting to break into a filing cabin before taking food and petty cash.
A few days later, Cheddar Valley Foodbank in Somerset was raided by thieves who stole Christmas donations stored in a container.
Food and essential items were taken overnight between December 9 and the following day.
While there is no evidence to suggest any of the crimes are related, it shows thieves are targeting the charitable networks as they try to scale up to support the most vulnerable in times of rising demand. The social supermarket in Coventry had been experiencing record levels of demand as it came to the aid of people left isolated in the lockdown in the days before it was struck.
Andi Conway-horbury, a social welfare homeless officer based in Warwick, said: “These deplorable acts of criminality target support networks which are so vital at this time.
“They not only deprive the most vulnerable of food but cause damage to properties and affect the work of those who are doing great work in our communities, I just hope these people never find themselves in need. It’s just a cruel, heartless thing to do.
“When some people are going hungry, we are very fortunate that the good people of Coventry and Warwickshire always come to the fore.”
A spokesman for the Trussell Trust, the umbrella charity for foodbanks across the UK, said the instances were “really unfortunate” but there had been nothing out of the ordinary within its network of branches.
West Midlands Police is appealing for information about the break-in at the social supermarket in Coventry.
Anyone with information can contact police via Live Chat or 101, quoting crime reference number 20CV/105185C/20.
Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 with the same crime reference number.
They not only deprive the most vulnerable of food but cause damage to properties
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