Anger at £10,000 theft of quay bikes from country sports club

Thieves broke into a locked container at an Angus country sports club and made off with four quad bikes worth £10,000.

Auchterhouse Country Sports owner Gavin Christie said he was devastated at the theft of the children’s bikes.

He said: “They cut the padlocks off the container. They must have used an angle grinder. It must have happened between 9.30pm on Thursday and 9am on Friday.

“The quad bikes were worth about £10,000.

“We’ve had break-ins previously, but nothing like this. This is the worst by far. It is devastating.

“Crime scene investigators were up to see if they could find fingerprints, so we are hoping something comes of that.

“We’ll need to cancel all the quad bike bookings until we buy new ones, or hopefully get those ones back.”

Mr Christie believes that the perpetrators “knew what they were doing” and had planned the raid.

He said: “The way it was done seems like someone had staked the place out. The container the bikes were in was really secure and it had a high-security padlock. It was one of the best and they cut it right off.”

Police Scotland said anyone with any information should call 101. Alternatively, information can be passed anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Auchterhouse Country Sports is known as one of the top clay target shooting grounds in the country and also offers a range of other country sports, from falconry and archery sessions to off-road driving and quad biking.

It was voted Scotland’s favourite shooting ground and voted third-top ground in the UK 2016 by readers of the Clay Shooting Magazine, hosting local, national and international shooting competitions.

It is owned and run by the Christie family. Gavin’s son Drew, senior shooting instructor at the sports club, represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and also won a silver medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014.