Forced out by vandals

That’s it . . . Keith Welsby has quit as campsite warden after thugs wrecked his caravan

Warden quits after wrecking spree

A HEARTBROKEN scout leader has quit the movement after vandals went on the rampage and destroyed his treasured caravan.

Keith Welsby has spent weeks at a time in his four-berth van at the Dog Hill Scout and Community Campsite in Buckstones Road, Shaw, as a volunteer warden.

Yet after a weekend away visiting his ill, elderly mother, he was devastated to return and find the van had been completely torn apart.

The door was hanging off its hinges, windows and crockery were smashed, kitchen cupboards ruined and upholstery was strewn across the site.

The vandalsim comes less than eight weeks after a neighbouring van was burnt out during an after-dark wrecking spree.

Keith (55) said: “I was just mortified when I saw the damage.

“This is the fourth time it has been broken into so I had taken all the valuables out, but the rest is wrecked. There are even axe marks in the kitchen cupboard doors.”

The damage is thought to have been done during the early hours of Sunday morning.

Dejected and disappointed, Keith is now giving up and turning his back on the campsite.

But it is not a decision he has taken lightly.

Along with right-hand man Mike Williamson, the pair have used hand-me-down materials to improve the campsite for youngsters and visitors.

Although many visitors are well behaved and respectful, the pair have seen an increase in vandalism and yobbish behaviour at weekends.

Attempts to build up a decent relationship with visiting teenagers is being being spoilt by a minority hell bent on destruction, and it’s too much for Keith.

He added: “Enough is enough, this is just the final straw. I can’t keep throwing the money at the caravan. How can people do this? They are simply lowlifes. I’m gutted.”

Police have visited the campsite and are now investigating.