16 hours Ago
Paul Knott, 60, found the doors of his garage had been ripped from their frame in Oakley Park Drive, Leigh, at roughly 6.30am on Wednesday morning. Due to the nature of his job, Paul stores thousands of pounds worth of equipment in his garage, including DeWalt power tools such as a jigsaw, impact driver and a sander – all of which were stolen.
Despite using a series of secure locks to protect the tools, Paul said the thieves had ripped the door from its frame and “stolen his livelihood” during the break-in. “I’d come down early to make my wife a nice egg and bacon sandwich and when I realised I was out of butter went to look in the garage fridge,” said Paul. “When I realised I could see my car, which should be locked behind the doors, I knew something wasn’t right.
“I was in a state of disbelief.” According to Paul, the thieves, who are believed to have targeted the home at around 6.30am on Wednesday morning, didn’t even bother to break the padlocks on his garage door.
Instead, they ripped the entire doors from their frame. He estimates the value of the stolen tools to be somewhere between £1,400 and £1,600. Paul added: “We’re talking a fair amount and that’s before I’ve even had the chance to quantify the cost of all the accessories that were taken too.
“Being a handyman, you don’t just replace it with cheap items. You need good items that unfortunately cost a lot more.” Instead of the relaxing Christmas morning that he had planned, Paul spent the first few hours of the day attempting to secure his garage – a task that he jokingly said “is a lot harder when you don’t have any tools!”.
After discovering the cold-hearted theft, Paul immediately contacted the police. A spokesman said: “We are investigating a burglary which was reported to us early on December 25. “The incident happened in Oakley Park Drive, Leigh.
“A number of power tools were taken.” Contact Essex Police with information on 101..
