Vandals break into children’s mental health charity

Vandals broke into children’s charity, Kids Inspire over the May bank holiday weekend.  

The break in occurred by smashing locks and glass, while the building itself was ransacked for petty cash and foreign change – which has long been an income stream for the charity. Fortunately, no data was breached during the incident. 

This unsettling surprise came after the staff completed over 100 acts of kindness to celebrate the Captain Tom 100 Challenge weekend and almost exactly two years after they moved into the building. 

Christine Vincent, Kids Inspire’s Clinical Administration Supervisor was the first to discover the random act of vandalism:

“It was a real shock to come into the office and see the state left by the vandals. The team spent all day sweeping up glass, repairing broken locks and doors and clearing up paint and fire extinguisher foam that had been thrown around. This was all so that the building would be safe for our service users to return the following day to receive their therapeutic services.” 

Head of Operations, Vicky Haylock said:

“Our office is a remote building on a temporary lease and sadly an alarm is not much of a deterrent. Our insurance excess is high, so it is not worth claiming for what has been taken and for the damage done.” 

After sharing the incident on social media, the local community came forward to offer their support. Vicky went on to say: 

“The silver lining has been the supportive, kind comments we have received from the people of Essex. They have offered their time, money and services to help us get back to normal which has been lovely to see.”