Model railway exhibition at Leamington college targeted by thieves

Over the weekend the Leamington and Warwick Model Railway Society was holding their 45th annual exhibition at Royal Leamington Spa College in Warwick New Road.

The site was targeted by thieves who stole some of the stock at a trade stand that was at the exhibition.

According to police the break-in happened at some time between 6pm on Friday (March 6) and 7am on Saturday (March 7).

The team at the Leamington and Warwick Model Railway Society posted a statement on their Facebook page over the weekend addressing what had happened.

The statement said: "The opening of the Leamington and Warwick Model Railway Society exhibition was delayed on Saturday morning as the result of a break in at the exhibition centre where the event was being staged.

"Intruders cut their way through the perimeter fence before forcing an entry to a building.

"They made off with a considerable amount of new model railway stock belonging to one of the trade stands attending the exhibition.

"The stolen items were loaded into building material cube bags and a larger section of the perimeter fence was then cut away to enable the bags to be dragged away to a parked vehicle on a remote track running between the grounds of the venue and the river the police believe.

"The raid was almost certainly pre-planned and well executed by an organised crime group from outside of the area. (Other exhibition organisers please note).

"Scenes of crime investigators attended and collected a number of items of interest left by the raiders. Police Officers are also collecting CCTV material for review from the venue and the wider local area.

"The exhibition was eventually able to fully open to the public at 12.30pm on Saturday morning and has been open as normal today, Sunday 8th March 2020 from 10:00am.

"Leamington and Warwick Model Railway Society club members expressed concern that there have been a number of similar incidents across the country in the recent past but are pleased to report that on this occasion the intruders have not touched any of the models on display and no further damaged was caused."

A spokesperson for WCG (formerly Warwickshire College Group) said: “On Friday evening, thieves broke into Royal Leamington Spa College ahead of the Leamington & Warwick Model Railway Society exhibition and stole new model railway stock belonging to one of the trade stands.

“We are continuing to work closely with Warwickshire Police as they carry out their investigation.

“Despite the theft, the exhibition was eventually able to fully open to the public at 12.30pm on Saturday and went ahead as planned on Sunday.”

Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact Warwickshire police on 101, quoting incident number 87 on 07/03/2020.