THE third case of lead and copper thefts from Torfaen schools will force the council to fork out more than £85,000 in repair costs.

Since November of last year, Henllys Church in Wales School, Croesyceiliog Comprehensive and most recently West Monmouth School have been targeted, causing around £86,000 of damage.

The thefts has resulted in huge amounts of damage to the schools’ classrooms, but also equipment and work created by the students.

LEAD panels were stolen from the roof of West Monmouth School on New Year’s Eve, causing ceilings to collapse following heavy rain.

The damage to the Pontypool school included the IT suite and art rooms, which destroyed IT equipment and ruined pupil’s art exam work.

Torfaen council have been informed that the cost to repair the damage is expected to be in the region of £45,000.

Similar events took place in November as lead and copper thefts from Henllys Church in Wales School and Croesyceiliog Comprehensive caused around £25,000 and £16,000 worth of damage respectively.

The newly-elected leader of Torfaen council, Cllr Anthony Hunt, said: “This is a massive waste of council resources, and is devastating for the pupils who have come back to school after the Christmas break to find all of their hard work ruined.

“This is not the first time we have faced this problem in Torfaen and the roofs have all been treated with SmartWater, which has previously helped the police to trace and prosecute individuals who have stolen lead from our buildings.

“We have also replaced a lot of lead with substitutes, so thieves could end up with something that is worthless to them.”

Cllr Hunt added that the council will be working with Gwent Police to find out who carried out the thefts, with CCTV capturing the assailants behind the incident at West Monmouth School on December 31.

“We have CCTV footage of the most recent incident which will hopefully help us to identify the thieves and I would urge anyone with any information that may help to contact the police,” said Cllr Hunt.

Anyone with information on any of these incidents, or who spots any suspicious activity, should contact Gwent Police on 101.