Thieves take months to strip derelict hospital

● MP criticises health board over ‘scandal’ of £1 million loss

Thieves used a network of tunnels to steal £1 million worth of metal from the derelict Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow.

They spent months stripping out valuable high-voltage cables, even though they were still live. They also stole pipes and lead in a series of raids.

The gang used utility corridors under the buildings to move around the site, erected temporary lights, brought in a specialist electrician and even stole a CCTV security camera.

Experts estimate the market value of the haul would easily reach £1m and police believe the operation was only halted when the hospital was picked clean, with nothing left of value inside.

Paulsweeney,labourmpfor Glasgow North East, discovered the extent of the thefts after a site visit last month after the building was set on

0 MP Paul Sweeney said Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow ‘was a treasure trove, but its value has been plundered by criminals’

fire. He has written to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to express his “shock” at the state of the old hospital.

Mr Sweeney said: “It’s a scandal. Millions and millions of pounds worth of property

has been taken, destroyed or allowed to fall to bits at a time when the NHS is so strapped for cash.

“This site was a treasure trove, but its value has been plundered by criminals.”

He also criticised the health board for failing to heed warnings to secure the site after it was closed following the opening of the new Stobhill hospital.

Gang members are understood

to have accessed the old hospital grounds by driving to Littlehill golf club in Bishopbriggs then crossing a narrow bridge hidden from view by trees.

Tools were used to pop the rivets securing the base of the vertical posts on the metal security fences so they appeared undamaged but could be parted like curtains to allow access.

They would use a welding solder to temporarily hold the posts in place after they left and avoid them “swinging like wind chimes”. Under cover of darkness, they squeezed through ducts into the underground utility tunnels which connect the hospital buildings and are lined with large steam pipes and vast stretches of high-voltage cables.

The power was still live, so the gang isolated the sections of cable before it was cut and stolen.

Thegangusedthemainssupply to rig up temporary lighting in the tunnels to make their task easier as they returned repeatedly to methodically strip the valuable scrap metal and cables.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed the hospital has been targeted by thieves since shutting in 2009 but disputed the value of the haul.

Stobhill was closed in 2011.