HEARTLESS vandals last week broke into Tavistock Primary School's nursery, and damaged toys and equipment, leaving the place in a real mess. Among the debris caused by the callous intruders was a giant teddy bear much loved by the four and five year old children — it was left torned to shreds with its foam interior ripped out and strewn everywhere. The vandalism took place sometime between 8pm on Tuesday, January 9, and 7am the next day. The incident happened in the area between the school's reception class and the nursery. There was also damage to the roof, and tables and play equipment, such as sand trays, were badly damaged. The break-in was discovered by by caretaking staff, who opened up the building to find the mess. It included the remains of an eight pack of lager and a number of roll-up cigarettes. Carol Trenthan, the school's deputy head, said: 'What was particularly worrying for us was that what they did could have posed a severe fire risk. 'It was a real mess and upsetting to staff at the school. The caretakers were really good and cleaned up most of it up before the children had come to school. 'We were really upset by its maliciousness and its affect on teaching and learning. 'We are having this sort of situation more and more with a lot of youngsters congregating on the site, and are worried that this sort of problem will escalate.' PC Graham Callender, a neighbourhood beat manager for Tavistock police, said the police were taking the incident seriously and items had been taken away for forensic examination. He said: 'If anyone has any information on this break in and vandalism please contact Tavistock police station on 08452 777444, crime reference JT/07/49. 'If it has been done by youngsters we appeal to someone's better nature to come forward to let us know who did this.'
