AROUND £2,000-worth of sound equipment was stolen during a break-in at a Newport hospice.

This CCTV still appears to show a man placing a bucket over a camera at St David’s Hospice Care’s day centre on Blackett Avenue, minutes before a burglary happened there on Friday night.

He is first seen at 10.50pm when the bucket is placed on the camera and again at 11.47pm when it is removed, hospice bosses say.

During this time a lock was drilled and a door was forced on a storage shed in the back yard of the hospice.APA system, cables, speakers, tools and a first-aid kit were taken in the raid.

The theft was only discovered by staff when they returned to work on Monday. The charity’s fundraising director Kris Broome said staff were “disappointed” and “saddened” by the incident.

He said: “The equipment stolen was collectively worth about £2,000 but in a thief’s hands will most probably only fetch a few hundred.

“The PA was in use by the charity all the time at our various fund-raising events, where we collect vital funds for our hospice-at-home charity.

“The thief will have known full well that we are a cancer and end-of-life care hospice, which makes this crime all the more wicked and despicable.

“Funds are extremely difficult to raise at the best of times and even more so in the current economic climate, but we’ll have to find some to buy another PA system to replace the one that has been stolen.”

“We have been made to feel very welcome since we came to Malpas last year from Maindee. This incident, the first of its type since we arrived here, is very frustrating and saddening.”

St David’s Hospice Care operates day hospices throughout Gwent and south East Wales. It also provides free ‘hospice at home’ care through its nurses for hundreds of people throughout the area, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Anyone with information is asked to call Gwent Police on 101 quoting log 79 20/05/13 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

ARGUS COMMENT: Tell police thief’s name

THERE are few people whose lives have not been touched in some way by the hospice movement.

Hospices do the most extraordinary work and provide the most remarkable care for those with life-limiting illnesses.

So we cannot comprehend why anyone would choose a hospice as a target for a burglary.

What kind of lowlife breaks into a hospice?

Yet that is exactly the fate that befell St David’s Hospice Care late last week at the charity’s day centre in the Malpas area of Newport.

A burglar – who clearly knew what he was doing – made off with an expensive PA system and other communications equipment during the raid. This person came equipped for the job and even took time to block off one of the hospice’s CCTV cameras.

This criminal’s actions are truly beyond contempt, not least because it means the cash-strapped charity will have to replace equipment that is vital to many of its fundraising events.

There is every possibility that someone reading this knows the person responsible for this despicable crime. If you do, then disregard any misplaced loyalty you might feel and give his name to the police.

St David’s does some fantastic work and is a well-respected and well-supported charity.

The person responsible for this break-in deserves no respect or support. The sooner they are facing justice the better.