The owner of an Oswestry business is keen on extra CCTV coverage at an industrial estate after raiders caused hundreds of pounds of damage trying to break into his premises.

Steve Marston says his Crazy Knights children’s soft play centre on Maesbury Road Industrial Estate was targeted by thieves last week.

They ripped sheeting from the walls of the building, only to find breeze blocks behind, cut through a fire door and, when the alarms sounded, climbed up drainpipes and smashed them.

Despite their concerted attempts the raiders were foiled – eventually leaving empty-handed.

But Mr Marston said the attack had left him with a huge repair bill, just months after thieves broke in and stole all his tools while he was building the centre.

“I think the thieves were after cash, thinking that we would have been busy during the Easter holiday. But we never keep cash on the premises,” he said.

He said he would now been installing CCTV cameras of his own. But he said he would back any scheme to extend Oswestry’s town centre CCTV on to the estate.

“I would be happy to contribute towards more cameras and I am sure others would be,” he added.

The town’s CCTV system is hailed as one of the best volunteer-run systems in Britain and its instalment in the town centre saw an immediate drop in offences.

Inspector Jim Stafford, of Oswestry police, said that a wireless CCTV camera covers part of the industrial estate. “Each wireless camera costs around £9,000 although they are cheaper if we buy more than one,” he said.