‘THEY ROBBED EX-SERVICEMEN’
HEARTLESS thieves stole Poppy Appeal collection tins from a Royal British Legion club in the early hours of Armistice Day.
The two burglars smashed into the premises in Maesteg, Bridgend, with a crowbar just hours before the nation fell silent in honour of those killed in two world wars.
After ransacking two bars in the property, the two men took “about half a dozen” poppy boxes, £100 in cash, a glass full of staff tips, money from a pool table and fruit machine, and two bottles of Jack Daniels.
“They robbed ex-servicemen really,” club secretary David Roberts said.
“It’s terrible. They could not have picked a worse time to do it.
“It doesn’t reflect well on them. There is supposed to be honour among thieves but doing this before Remembrance Sunday is a bit much.”
Mr Roberts thought the club had lost around £300 in the break-in.
“They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “People have already made comments on Facebook. Everyone is disgusted about the time of year it happened.”
It was unclear how much was in the poppy collection boxes because they were sealed.
“God help them if they are found because things like that are hard to swallow,” Mr Roberts said. “It may not have been a great deal of money but it’s the principle.”
The thieves, who were in the club for about 10 to 15 minutes, were caught on CCTV but Mr Roberts said footage showed little but two small lights – perhaps from mobile phones – in the darkness.
Mr Roberts added. “The collection boxes were ready to be picked up because the collection ends this Sunday. They were found about half a mile away in Maesteg swing park with the box from the pool table. They were empty.”
He admitted the break-in “could have been a lot worse”.
“They didn’t get into the areas where the safes were,” Mr Roberts said. “They tried to but they couldn’t.”
Since the raid Anne Seldon has set up a JustGiving page to try to replace the money.
“We’re raising £200 to replace the money that was stolen from the Maesteg British Legion poppy appeal,” she wrote on the page.
“The Royal British Legion in Maesteg has been performing excellent work in the Llynfi Valley for decades and continues to raise money to provide help and support to current and ex-servicemen and women. This appeal hopes to go some way to recouping some of the losses so that the Royal British Legion in Maesteg can continue helping our brave soldiers, sailors and airmen in the future.”
A South Wales Police spokesman said: “During the early hours of Friday, November 11, between 3.30am and 4.15am, a burglary occurred at the Royal British Legion Club, Commercial Street, Maesteg.
“During this incident a number of Poppy Appeal money boxes were stolen as well as a quantity of cash and a gambling machine money box.
“This has caused the staff, the club and committee members a great deal of distress with it being Remembrance Day. This burglary demonstrates how disrespectful and callous these criminals are, acting in this manner, on such an important day.”
Anyone with information can contact police on 101.
Anne Seldon’s JustGiving page can be found at bit.ly/maesteglegion