Co-op locks up defibrillators after Midlands thefts

A defibrillator gives a person in cardiac arrest a high energy electric shot to the heart

Defibrillators at a number of Co-op stores in the Midlands will be locked after opening hours following a series of thefts.

They were taken at shops in Bulkington and Nuneaton in Warwickshire, and Burbage and Croft Hill, Leicestershire, in the past two weeks.

The Heart of England Co-operative Society said it was looking for a way to keep them "safe and accessible".

All the defibrillators had been funded by community projects.

The Co-op has 32 food stores in the region and said the protective housings for the defibrillators had been damaged in the thefts, promising to update shoppers when it had found a solution.

Nuneaton and Bedworth Neighbourhood Watch volunteer Lee Hayward said on the group's Facebook page the community felt "physically sick" that someone would steal such life-saving equipment.