THE offices of a charity which provides cheap furniture to low-income families have been broken into. Trespassers caused £500 damage last Thursday at a unit in the Woolmer Industrial Estate used by Bordon-based Furniture Helpline, which was celebrating its first anniversary since avoiding closure. Furniture Helpline provides help and support to families in Petersfield, as well as other areas in East Hampshire. Police are investigating vital evidence left by the intruders, who were apparently hurt entering the building. They destroyed the front office of the charity's headquarters, but left empty-handed. The bungled burglary was one of four known break-ins on the estate, suspected to have been carried out in the early hours of December 28 by the same people, who cut themselves scrambling through a shattered window and left a trail of blood. Furniture Helpline worker Gerald Robinson said this was the first time the charity's base had been broken into, although its van, a vital part of the service, had been raided several times. Mr Robinson said he would be saddened to think that the culprits could be among, or were friends of, the 1,800 people in three counties who benefitted from the charity's service in 2006. He added that if the perpetrators were caught and convicted, he hoped they would undertake community service to help repair the damage they caused at the office "so they understood the consequences of their actions". According to the police, the raid was carried out around 3 am by at least two people who targetted units in one corner of the estate, including one which has been broken into six times in as many months. After failing to force open a secluded delivery door at Foods of Europe, the intruders smashed the window of a unit opposite the Furniture Helpline office, cutting themselves and smearing blood across the room. It is unclear whether they stole anything, but they quickly moved on to the charity's base, again smashing a pane of glass and injuring themselves further, leaving blood-stained handprints on the walls. Unable to prise open a locked interior door leading to the warehouse, it appears they panicked and tried using £30 of bleach and strong cleaning fluids found in a toilet near the door to clean their wounds. The burglars blocked the sink in the bathroom and left the taps running before fleeing the scene. Helpline staff were due to return from the Christmas break on Tuesday, January 2, but a volunteer mistakenly turned up for work at noon on the day of the break-in and raised the alarm. After surveying the damage, Mr Robinson said it would cost around £500 to replace warped flooring, weakened furniture and a broken window. He told The Herald: "It would be really annoying to know someone we have supported has carried this out. Why do you do something like this to an organisation which is trying to help people? "We take people referred from the Probation Service here, and I would like to see these people (the trespassers) carry out community service here. It's the only way of educating them." A police spokesman said that forensic samples had been taken from the scene. The investigation is continuing.
