A DERELICT building in Malvern has again been targeted by peculiarly dressed trespassers who ended up in a foot chase with patrolling officers.
The old Priors Croft Nighclub building opposite Malvern Theatre was targeted by a group of teenage boys wearing Santa hats on Tuesday evening (August 26) around 5pm.
Officers witnessed a number of teenage boys running out of the building wearing Christmas hats.
West Mercia Police responded after reports of banging and crashing coming from within the building which has been unoccupied for a number of years and is in a dangerous state of dilapidation, with rotten flooring and unstable supporting joists.
Over the summer holidays police have received several reports of trespassers within the building and damage being caused inside.
On this occasion PC Dave Olczak and PCSO Collette Carpenter attended the building where PCSO Carpenter witnessed a number of teenage boys running out of the building wearing Christmas hats.
A West Mercia Police spokesperson said, in jest: “You would have assumed the easiest way to evade Police would have been to exit up the chimney to a waiting Sleigh but they decided to make a dasher for it over the fence.”
Unfortunately, the officers were on the wrong side of the building to catch up with them on that occasion but the teenagers returned to the building less than half an hour later.
Officers managed to catch two teenagers making off from the location. PC Dave Olczak and PC Kevin Johns detained two of the lads and educated them both on just how dangerous the building was.
The teenagers were then taken home to have another chat back at their respective addresses.
A spokesperson for the force said: “Hopefully they have learned their lesson and won’t end up with coal in their stocking on Christmas morning.”
After the incident, the force have issued a warning. Parents have been asked to warn children not go near the building. They said such buildings can be ‘extremely dangerous’ to enter, warning ‘it is only a matter of time’ before someone is injured or worse while exploring it.
This particular building is one that officers neighbourhood officers in Malvern are paying regular spot check visits to. The force say they are also always surrounding the building before entering the grounds, to ensure that trespassers are dealt with accordingly.
