'It's not something you want to be woken up to' - Pride House ransacked in shocking burglary
A director of an LGBTQI+ community house has expressed their shock after a shocking smash-and-grab burglary.
Rickie Wellman, director of Pride Health at Wolverhampton's Pride House was horrified when he was woken at 1.58am on Friday morning to a message saying that the building had been broken into.
The director rushed to the location where he found the doors of the building destroyed and a number of high and low-priced items taken.
Now Rickie has opened up about the shock of the burglary and what it means for Pride Health.
He said: "It definitely isn't a phone call you want at 1.58 in the morning. I had just put my head down to go to sleep and then my phone went off. I got there and it looked like there was a fire, there was so much smoke from the security system.
"The CCTV actually showed it happening at around 1.57am, you could see him smash the window and he was gone by 2am. Literally less than five minutes. It's shocking."
In less than five minutes, the burglar managed to take a number of small items and a barista espresso machine, while also ransacking the inside of the building.
Rickie continued: "The burglar managed to get a barista coffee machine and some other stuff. I don't know if because of the tables and the other stuff, they thought it was a coffee shop. We are really surprised that they managed to get the machine through the door.
"It's more the time and the funds to get the stuff back, we now have to air out the whole shop because of the smell of the security smoke, it's heartbreaking to see it the way it is."
The director says the group is now in the process of launching a fundraiser to pay for more security for the building, which they see has seen a number of vandalism-related incidents in the past.
Rickie said: "It's not nice to get that call that early in the day. I do usually get calls. When I got to bed I usually watch the cameras and you do see people kick the glass and other stuff.
"It's just about picking up the pieces now, the insurance will cover the cost of the damages, but we need more security items like better CCTV for the building, and being a not-for-profit, it isn't cheap.
"We are launching a fundraiser soon so people can donate for better security for the building. It's just shocking really."
Pride House is an LGBTQI+ community building that offers support to those of the Pride community and organisations around the area.
West Midlands Police said: "We're investigating a burglary in School Street, Wolverhampton, during the early hours of Friday (29 December).
"We're reviewing CCTV as part of our enquiries and anyone with information can contact us via Live Chat on our website, or call 101, and quote 20/1109681/23."