Hundreds of defibrillators are stolen from public buildings every year, a Sun probe finds
HUNDREDS of defibrillators are being stolen from public buildings every year putting lives at risk, a Sun on Sunday investigation reveals.
Police crime data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows that record numbers of the medical devices were snatched last year, with the crisis reaching unprecedented levels.
Crime experts believe callous gangs are targeting defibrillators – worth between £1,000 and £1,500 – to sell illegally abroad on the black market.
Railway stations, hospitals, pubs, village halls, churches, leisure centres, council buildings and even police stations have all fallen victim to the alarming trend over the last three years, our probe shows.
Estelle Stephenson, from the British Heart Foundation said that people who suffer a cardiac arrest in a place where there is a defibrillator “can double the chance of survival from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest”.
The Head of Health Partnerships and Community Resuscitation added: “It is incredibly dispiriting to hear cases of defibrillators being stolen as it means these lifesaving devices then can’t be used in situations where they’re needed most.
“In an emergency, nearby access to a defibrillator can literally mean the difference between life or death, providing a lifeline until the ambulance service arrives.”
The Sun on Sunday sent Freedom of Information requests to all 45 police forces in the UK.
Of the 32 that responded, they said that last year there were 112 thefts, up from 54 in 2021 and 61 in 2020.
The highest number of thefts over the last three years were in the West Midlands, with 23, and West Mercia with 16.
West Yorkshire Police recorded ten thefts of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in 2022, compared to only one the previous year.
One involved a man who made off with a community defibrillator in Leeds while a woman was receiving treatment from paramedics in the street.
And in Dewsbury criminals managed to break into a building site office to swipe an AED used for emergencies.
South Wales Police recorded 21 thefts from 2020 to 2022, two of which were from the same police station in Cardiff and one from an ambulance station in Porthcawl.
In County Durham, there were seven thefts in 2022 right across the region, whereas none occurred in 2021 and only one in 2020.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland recorded 11 between 2020 and 2022 including from a bank, a hospital and several shops.
During the same time period there were 23 in the West Midlands including two within the same week in Dudley.
Local councillor Adam Aston, a paramedic for 20 years, said: “One of these defibrillator cabinets was on the wall of a church and had been paid for by children’s fundraising activities.
“A generous businessman came forward and paid for a replacement, but then that was stolen too, even though it was in an ultra-safe cabinet. Now the community defibrillator is protected by CCTV, paid for by a local security company. It’s sad it has come to that.
“Without a doubt, the damage or theft of equipment such as defibrillators puts lives at risk and I think the law should recognise this.
“I know from my own experience that only a tiny fraction of victims of cardiac arrests outside hospital survive, and that is usually down to a defibrillator.
“The police told me they were being stolen to be sold abroad, or to be stripped for the electronics. This is a problem that is massively underreported, and I don’t think it’s being taken particularly seriously by the police.”
Earlier this year 51-year-old Steven Tanner of Garnant, South Wales, received a 20-week prison sentence suspended for two years after stealing a defibrillator worth £1,200 from his employer. He was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
North West Ambulance Service paramedic Scott Sutherland, 48, was jailed for three years in 2021 after he stole defibrillators worth £30,000 from ambulance stations.
He had been trying to sell them to a man in the Czech Republic.
In Carlisle, Cumbria, Thomas McNaught, 35, from Glasgow, stole a defibrillator from Oxenholme railway station while a first responder was treating a woman having a heart attack on the platform.
He was given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay £1200 compensation for the missing defibrillator.
Even rural villages miles from a hospital were targeted.
In Devon and Cornwall last year seven small towns had defibrillators stolen.
In November last year Bridgnorth Rowing Club in Shropshire was attacked and their safety officer Martin Evans, said it was the second time a unit had been stolen, adding: “We’ve lost something that has the potential to be widely used and save lives within the community.
“This is like stealing from an ambulance as far as I am concerned.”
Neither the Metropolitan Police nor Greater Manchester Police provided a response to our request, stating it would take too long to sift through crime logs.