RESIDENTS in Bere Alston have rallied around to replace the community defibrillator stolen from outside the village toilets back in July.

The equipment was installed four years ago following successful fundraising by resident Dotty King and other members of the BATs — Bere Alston Trekkers running club.

Since then it has been used successfully a number of times to save lives.

The whole village was therefore outraged when the equipment was stolen sometime between midnight and 6am on Saturday, July 11. They have rallied around to donate £1,800 to replace both the defibrillator and its case on the wall of the public loos.

And on Monday night (August 24), the replace equipment was duly put back in the proper place.

Dotty said she had had ‘no doubt’ that people would rally around to replace the vital equipment, which is used to restart the heart in an emergency.

‘The village has been brilliant,’ said Dotty. ‘I have lived in this village for 20 years and the community are brilliant. I knew they would rally round to replace it.

‘People were appalled that an essentialy resource had been removed from the village with no explanation. Everyone in the village was upset that it had happened and they were so generous in donating towards a new defibrillator at a time when there is no money around. They wanted it back.

‘I am quite sure that it will not be removed again. Everyone knows that I am the custodian, I live 30 seconds up the road and they can contact me in any case, but there would be an absolute uproar if this happened again.’

She said the equipment had been used on the evening before it went missing and put back in its case.

However, sometime between midnight and 6am the following night, it disappeared, leaving an empty case.

After the theft, Dotty searched high and low for the equipment, looking in rubbish bins in the village and on top of the toilet block itself, in case it had been thrown up there.

However she drew a blank and in spite of police enquiries neither the defibrillator or the culprit have been located to date.

She said it was a mystery why anyone would want to take it, as ‘it doesn’t have a street value’.

Parish councillor Peter Dennis launched the crowdfunder appeal on the Facebook page for Bere Alston Parish Hall, which is next door to the toilets where the defibrillator is sited, a position chosen as it is in a central location in the village. The response was immediate with over £1,000 raised in the first weekend alone.

Brian Lamb, chair of Bere Ferrers Parish Council, said: ‘The parish council is very proud of this response and wish to thank all of those who have contributed to this wonderful conclusion.’ The police are still appealing for information about the whereabouts of the stolen defibrillator, which is a CA-TEK make with the serial number DEF504020STDULE, and was taken overnight on July 10-11. Call 101 or email via the Devon and Cornwall Police website.