Band in city for Pride event fall victim to thieves

A BAND who performed at Cardiff Pride over the weekend have been left devastated after thousands of pounds of their belongings were stolen after they performed.

Melody 5, based in Newcastle, had performed at the event on Saturday and decided to get some food in Cardiff Bay afterwards.

But when they got back, they discovered the minibus they had been using to tour in had been broken into.

Channy Thompson, 24, who manages the band said it left them all feeling shaken.

“We were just having a weekend of performing,” she said. “We were travelling the country performing and performed at Cardiff Pride on Saturday.

“We finished performing and everything was fine and we were hungry so we went to Cardiff Bay. #

“We parked the minibus on a busy road opposite the Travelodge. There were lots of cars parked on the same street.

“We hid all the bags underneath the seats with coats on top of them. We were in Nando’s for an hour-and-ahalf and as we came back there was glass on the floor and the windows were smashed. Someone had broken in. We think they watched us walk away.

“They tried to take as much as they could because there were bags dropped by the door.

“There was thousands of pounds worth of stuff. Make-up from America, money.

“They all work hard so they treat themselves with designer bags. It’s stuff they’ve worked hard for.”

One of the items stolen was particularly precious.

“The main thing is the locket that was in the bag,” Channy said.

“One of the girls has recently lost a best friend at 15 to cancer. She never took the locket off but that day she had another necklace on for Pride.

“When we went for food, she left it in the bag. It’s heartbreaking. The phones and money can all be replaced but that can’t.”

The 11 of them eventually got to a hotel, before temporarily repairing the windows so they could get going to other gigs around the UK.

After smashing the remaining glass and cleaning the street, they finally got going hours later. But with no money and phones low on battery, it was a struggle.

“We were in a place we weren’t familiar with and had not been to Cardiff before,” Channy said.

“We had five teenage girls and needed to get to a hotel 30 minutes away. It wasn’t safe. Someone could have helped us.”

A spokeswoman for South Wales Police said: “South Wales Police received reports of theft from a vehicle at around 8.20pm on Friday, August 25 on Hemingway Road, Atlantic Wharf.

“Anybody with information on this is asked to contact us via 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 1800324287.”