Riddle of £2k theft... on crime-free island

IT is a virtually crime-free island where many of the locals have never felt the need to lock their doors.

So the first serious unlawful act for years has shocked the community of 160 people on Gigha, Argyll.

Police are investigating after £2,000 in cash was taken from the island’s only hotel.

Resident Willie McSporran, 82 – who led the £4million community buyout of the island in 2002 – said: ‘It’s terrible these things are happening after all these years.

‘The last thing I remember going missing is a bike about 20 years ago, when my brother had the local shop.

‘It would be sensible for people to lock their doors now. People tend to be more trusting on the islands. They have no suspicion but will need to think again.’

Ken Deacon, 66, leaseholder of the community trust’s Gigha Hotel, said staff found the cash missing from a storeroom when they opened on Sunday morning.

He added: ‘It was about £2,000, part of the takings from the evening and the float. We had a busy Saturday night – the hotel was full of guests.’

Mr Deacon, who moved to Gigha from Lincolnshire four years ago, added: ‘There might be a few lads on the island that get into a bit of mischief, but nothing like this.

‘We have lived in a bubble. My house has not been locked for four years. I don’t lock my car, a lot here haven’t ever locked their house. This has disturbed people. They are now thinking, “Have we now got to start locking up?”.’

Mr Deacon said the last crime he remembered was a ‘bicycle that was technically borrowed and returned the next morning, that was two or three years ago’. He added: ‘The insurance companies are telling me to put CCTV in. It points the finger at everyone.

‘The police are coming back to do a survey of what we can do to make things more secure.’

Police Scotland said: ‘Entry was gained to a store room and money stolen. Constable David Hope at Campbeltown Police Station is investigating and appealing for witnesses, or anyone with information, to contact him on 101.’ The usually peaceful islands have become more of a target for criminals in recent years.

A sword was stolen from Canna’s museum this year, while in 2015 the isle’s community shop was robbed of half a dozen woolly hats, chocolate and coffee. It was the first recorded crime in 50 years.

On Iona in 2015, a floor hatch at St Columba’s Shrine was forced open and damaged, while in 2014, joyriders crashed a van into a fence on Colonsay.