More than £10,000 of damage was caused after vandals set fire to the garage at the OC Club in Thames Ditton which is used to store sports equipment along with various items used for ground maintenance.
The fire, on the evening of November 28, was quickly put out but not before the building was completely burned down. Hockey equipment, uniforms and new mini rugby equipment, for their sessions with four-to 12-year-olds, were totally destroyed.
JJ Griffin, who runs the club, described it as mindless vandalism and said he would have to install CCTV, something he had resisted for a long time. “They have completely destroyed the building, we have lost everything,” he told the Surrey Advertiser. “We’ve had no major problems with antisocial behaviour before, but I’m going to get full CCTV cameras installed and I will be less likely to allow youths in to use the facilities.
“I used to let them use them in to play football, but I will be less likely to now. The fire service was brilliant. If they hadn’t got here as quickly as they did, the whole bandstand could have burned down.”
Scene of crime officers have carried out extensive forensic examinations at the club.
Witnesses should call Surrey Police on 101, quoting reference EL/11/9060, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 11