Baby charity counts the cost after break-in at HQ

Staff at a charity supporting families with young children living in poverty have said they were left "heartbroken" after discovering their HQ had been broken into.

The Leeds Baby Bank, in Armley, was believed to have been raided between Thursday night and Friday morning, with laptops, phones and iPads stolen from its Wellington Road premises.

The charity has since launched a fundraising campaign to cover the cost of the stolen goods, and that had already surpassed its original £6,500 target by later on Friday.

Unit manager Sarah Cohen said although charity was at a "standstill" following the break-in, the "outpouring of love from the whole city has been incredible".

Cohen said that after arriving at work at 07:30 BST on Friday, she noticed one of the building's windows had been smashed.

"My stomach sank. It was horrible – it looked really horrible", she said.

Soon after, staff realised two internal doors had been damaged and a number of electronic devices had been stolen.

Cohen explained: "They've gone through the kitchen, broken into the warehouse at the back and stolen all our laptops and iPads. We can't function with them.

"We can't gather the information we need off our Customer Relationship Management system to phone families to see what they need for referrals because we haven't got the laptops.

"We can't do any referrals - we've just come to a standstill."

Cohen added that the charity, which supports children up to the age of five, currently had 86 referrals on its system, none of which could be processed due to the devices being stolen.

Cohen said Leeds Baby Bank often provided supplies for pregnant women and their babies.

That included "somewhere safe for the baby to sleep", as well as clothes, nappies, breast pumps, bottles, breast pads and toiletries for the mother after giving birth, she said.

But with operations grinding to a halt after the break-in, Cohen said it was those mothers and babies who were "completely affected".

"If a mum goes into early labour and we've had to stop processing our referrals, the likelihood is that families have to go without - which isn't right - because of someone's selfishness."

Staff at the baby bank spent Friday cleaning up the unit, including having to throw out toys in case they were covered in shards of glass, as well as resetting system passwords.

West Yorkshire Police said officers were "investigating after a report of a burglary at a business on Wellington Road", with inquiries still ongoing.

The force urged anyone with information or who "witnessed anything suspicious" to come forward.

Following the break-in, Leeds Baby Bank turned to the community for help and launched an online crowdfunding page to cover the cost of repairs and recovering stolen goods.

"Having to deal with the cost of replacing essential equipment and repairing the damage is a huge setback for us," the appeal stated.

"Help us get back to doing what we do best - supporting babies and families who need us."

By Friday afternoon, the charity had already surpassed its original £6,500 target, with former Leeds United player Patrick Bamford, who now plays for Sheffield United, even donating £1,000.

Cohen said the rapid community response had been "phenomenal".

"I'm amazed. I get goose pimples every time I refresh the page," she said.

"Not only are people offering, we've had businesses offer rooms if we need to work there, people ringing up and offering refurbished laptops so we can make the money go further."

Cohen said one woman even messaged the charity to say she had ordered an iPad to be delivered there next week.

"There was even a rainbow earlier when it started raining so, you know, every cloud does have a silver lining."

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