EXCLUSIVE By Steve Pearson and Sam Charlton
Thieves who stole £4,000 from Horsforth Hall Park Cricket Club remain at large despite a full-scale police investigation.
The burglary occurred late on Monday 22nd April, following a successful community fundraiser over Easter weekend.
The popular community club, founded in 1890, was left “upset and concerned” following the incident.
In an exclusive interview with Club Secretary Rob Hodson, he revealed a Police forensic team had been called in to aid the operation.
Hodson, the heartbeat of the club, described the outreach by the local community as fantastic.
“We’ve had about 50,000 hits on Facebook, hundreds of comments and over 1,000 people have shared it,” he said.
“Obviously people are very sympathetic, they’re very upset because they come down and use the club, they feel a part of it. A lot of people are offering their services to come and help with any work that needs doing and a lot of people are offering to give us equipment from their own businesses.”
The stolen fundraising money was originally planned to enhance the club’s facilities.
Hodson added: “We’ve got a lot of junior sections, we always need money for equipment and coaches. The rest goes into upgrading facilities for the members. We’ve just recently improved the decking area, and we want to do more work outside and that’s where the money ultimately would have gone.”
Hodson believes the burglary was committed by people with intimate knowledge of the club, due to the professional manner in which the break-in was carried out: “People are very upset, concerned and aware that the people that have done it are maybe people that actually use the club because, it’s the only way they could have found out about the internal working of the club.”
Hodson finished by giving a heartfelt appeal for information: “Anybody that has got any information, anybody that has got half a conscience, anybody that has half a thread of decency and the people that know who have done this need to come forward.”
The case remains open and anyone who may have information is urged to contact West Yorkshire Police.
