'˜Action needed over break ins'

Business owners are at their wits' ends after a series of break ins on a village industrial estate.
Stephen Marshall.Stephen Marshall.
Stephen Marshall.

That is the claim from tradesman Stephen Marshall, who is calling for more to be done to tackle offenders operating on the Kinsley Industrial Estate.

Mr Marshall, who runs Kinsley MOT Centre, said: “There’s somebody on this estate getting broken into every week and nothing seems to be done about it. They are coming in, ransacking businesses and taking stuff all the time. It’s getting worse. The residents on this estate are absolutely fed up.”

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Mr Marshall said the break ins were damaging people’s livelihoods and proving costly.

Business owners are having to fork out for new equipment and repairs and take time out of their working days to clear up mess and rectify damage, he said. “A few people are ruining this estate and destroying its reputation,” he said. “It’s not good for the area. How can you get new business to come here if all that is going to happen is that they get broken into every week?”

His comments come nearly 18 months after he and fellow business owners called for a greater police presence and increased security measures, after a run of break-ins on the estate in August 2016.

Sergeant Dave Lockwood of Wakefield District Police said four reports of burglaries were received between November and January 14. Suspects broke into an empty unit, which was being refurbished, and stole tools between January 10 and 11. And on Christmas Eve, power tools were taken from another unit. Police said they planned to increase patrols on the estate.

Sergeant Lockwood urged business owners to make officers aware of any other offences that had not been reported.

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