THIEVES broke into a former Ministry of Defence site to target a sports centre’s safe and made off with just £100 and a laptop.

The raiders cut their way through the chain-link fence and forced open Osprey Leisure Centre’s front doors to gain access to the Castletown building.

But, despite going to extreme lengths to drag the heavy safe into a window-less room, the thieves discovered only £100 cash and some cheques inside.

General manager Nigel Williams said the hassle and damage caused to the sports centre, which had to cancel its public swimming the next morning and escort its schools biathlon competitors in by the swimming pool door, far outweighed the thieves’ loot.

He said: “To be honest the hassle they must’ve gone to and the risk they took for that little amount of money, it was a waste of time.

“They got our safe but there was hardly anything in it because most of our clubs were cancelled over the bank holiday weekend.

“All they got was a couple of floats, worth about £100, some cheques and the swimming club laptop. They forced the front doors and marked the floor where they dragged the safe.

“It took two of us and a sack trolley to move the safe into the office so I don’t know how they dragged it but they must’ve wanted to get it away from the windows so people couldn’t see what they were doing.”

Mr Williams has since contacted all their customers who had written cheques to ask them to cancel the old ones and write new ones.

The centre has now invested £4,000 in a security revamp.

Mr Williams added: “It was already a relatively secure site because it’s ex-MoD but they cut through the chain-link fence to get into the premises.

“Unfortunately our new CCTV system wasn’t operational at that time, although we’d actually ordered it and had all the cables on site. It’s operational now and we’ve also upgraded our security alarms.

“We’ve spent £4,000 on the alarm and CCTV. It’s just the hassle factor and it’s not nice to know people have been wandering about in your offices.”

Two members of sports centre staff discovered the break-in, which happened overnight on Saturday, April 31, and Sunday, May 1 and immediately contacted the police.

Sergeant Neil Wood, head of the Portland Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “The amount of damage caused was completely disproportionate to what they got away with.

“This is a community resource used by everybody and we appeal to anybody with any knowledge to let us know so we can get them arrested as soon as possible.”

Witnesses and anyone with information should call Dorset Police on 01305 222222.

• THE break-in has been blasted by a Dorset Pentathletes coach who branded the thieves as ‘mindless.’ Head coach Mick Flaherty said: “The thieves caused more damage than money they might have got away with.

“What these thieves should realise is that the Osprey Centre runs on a tight budget and their actions could cause places like this to shut down which would affect the area that they live in.

“Also affecting their own friends and relatives that live in the local area, and all the clubs and organisations that make use of the centre, for little return for their mindless action.”