Heartbreak over Pride caravan break-in and theft

The caravan was broken into and vandalised on Sunday, chairman Carl Gratty said

Organisers of Stoke Pride have said they are devastated at their caravan being broken into and vandalised at a storage facility.

Skylights were ripped open and windows smashed with the offenders then stealing tools and radios and emptying the contents across the car park where the caravan is kept.

The vandalism has cost the charity about £2,500 and a fundraiser has been started to help replace the vehicle and equipment, Pride chairman Carl Gratty said.

"It's quite devastating. We're a charity and everything is donated," Mr Gratty said, "we have no real income stream."

In a post on social media the charity said the incident occurred on Sunday which left the charity "heartbroken at this senseless vandalism".

CCTV cameras have captured the incident, which has been reported to Staffordshire Police.

A fundraiser has now been started to pay for replacing the equipment

Mr Gratty said the vehicle had no markings on it to indicate it was linked to the LGBT Pride community, so he felt it was not a hate crime.

The Pride event is held in Hanley Park each year in June and attracts about 12,000 people and the caravan was used as a headquarters to manage the event.

The charity is now looking for a new storage site and has appealed for help in finding a suitable location to keep a new caravan, box trailers and two flatbeds.