Thieves take £400,000 of Lego from Huddersfield charity

Fairy Bricks, in Huddersfield, was targeted by thieves who stole thousands of boxes of Lego

A charity that sends Lego to children in hospital has been left "devastated" after thieves stole toys worth up to £400,000 from its warehouse.

About 18,000 boxes of the toy were taken from the Fairy Bricks facility in Huddersfield.

Children helped by the charity have sent messages of support.

Kevin Gascoigne, the charity's "Chief Fairy" said he had been in tears following the break-in earlier this week.

He said: "We've tried to do everything that we can during Covid and now this is a major setback."

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The charity's warehouse, in the Moldgreen area, was broken into at some point between late Sunday night and the early hours of Monday morning.

Thieves took a large number of Lego sets, loading them into a vehicle and making off from the scene.

They then returned, taking more boxes along with a van which the charity uses to take the donations to and from hospitals.

The van was later recovered after the charity put out an appeal for information on social media.

Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool sent a card saying the Lego sets "really make a difference".

Fairy Bricks said it had received a positive response from the public as well as support from Danish toy giant Lego.

Mr Gascoigne, 43, added: "That's the only thing that's going to get us through this, that's what drives us to get back.

"We can't allow ourselves to be defeated by people like this, the kids are still going to need our support and we're still going to provide it."

Fairy Bricks estimate that between £300,000 and £400,000 worth of Lego has been stolen.

CCTV from the night of the raid has been given to West Yorkshire Police and officers are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

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