BASEBALL BATS STOLEN FROM CITY SPORTS CLUB

Plymouth Evening Herald: 21 June 2006

Teenage thieves are believed to be behind the theft of baseball bats and helmets from a sports club in Central Park.

Police suspect a gang of about four teens raided the 20ft-long steel cabinet beside the Plymouth Mariners' clubhouse off Alma Road, between 10pm and midnight on Saturday, June 17.

It is thought the raiders, boys and girls, even played an impromptu game of baseball, scattering equipment around Knollys Field, before legging it with 15 bats and five helmets.

Pc Mark Popperwell, of west sector, said the gang may have been seen walking off with arms full of bats towards Plymouth Argyle's Home Park stadium.

He said there had been vandalism at the baseball club before and added: "There's been a group of kids up there drinking - there's been problems with them over the past few weeks."

Pc Popperwell said the bats, metal and wood, could be used for "all manner of things".

He appealed for witnesses and said: "Anyone in the park may have seen them walking in the park or back to their home addresses."

Contact police on 0845 2 777444, quoting crime number EC/06/5093.