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Jul 08, 2023

Burglars steal £3,000 worth of tools and stock from paintball centre in Messingham

The culprits arrived at the site on Monday night before filling a trailer with

The culprits arrived at the site on Monday night before filling a trailer with stock - they then dumped the trailer in nearby Bottesford Beck

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Burglars broke into a paintball centre in Messingham before stealing over £3,000 worth of tools and stock and dumping their trailer in Bottesford Beck.

At around 10.20pm on Sunday, May 21, a vehicle could be seen on CCTV arriving at the Paintball Challenge site on Holme Lane in Messingham, before the culprits "gained access through the gates using an angle grinder".

The burglars were then able to gain access to each of the business' storage units, and stole a "significant amount" of tools and stock worth more than £3,000.

Read more: Four injured in four-vehicle 'horror' crash in Weelsby Road Grimsby

In a post to their Facebook page, the owners of Paintball Challenge said they believe the burglars filled one of their trailers with other items they stole before driving off with it.

A short time later, the trailer was found upside down in Bottesford Beck, with the other stolen items "nowhere to be seen".

The post reads: "We woke up today to find that the paintball site had been burgled. At approximately 22:20 yesterday evening (21/05/2023) a vehicle, which we suspect could be a quad bike, pulled up outside our entrance and gained access through the gates using an angle grinder.

"They subsequently drove into the venue and gained access to all of our storage units. They stole a significant amount of tools and stock, with a value of over £3000.

"One of the items they stole was this trailer, it's not valuable, as you can see it's a bodge job DIY trailer. However, we believe they filled it with all of the other items they stole and drove off with it. Therefore we would ask local residents to keep an eye out for the trailer and please get in touch with either us or Humberside Police if you do see it!

"We are also appealing for CCTV footage from residents of Messingham (particularly Holme Lane) of any vehicles passing around the time of the incident. Anyone on Holme Lane with footage around 22:20 may have picked up something useful.

"Our neighbours at Hall Farm, who share the same access gate as us, also had items stolen.

"Unfortunately the limited CCTV footage we do have, does not clearly show how many people were involved or what vehicles they used.

"Among the items stolen were paint grenades and smoke grenades. So if there's any funny business locally going on with those, please again get in touch with us or the police.

"Thank you for reading and we’d be extremely grateful if you could share this around the Scunthorpe area."

In a follow-up post on Monday night, Paintball Challenge shared a picture of the trailer in Bottesford Beck, writing: "Thanks to you we have been able to find our much loved, dilapidated trailer. It was the least valuable item they stole but it is very useful and we’re pleased to have rescued it. Even if it does have a few more bumps and bruises!"

Humberside Police has been contacted for comment.

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