Pre-school 'absolutely devastated' as Queen's thank you letter stolen during break-in

A letter from the Queen was among the items stolen from a pre-school during a burglary, leaving its staff and children “absolutely devastated”.

Staff from Preston Pre-school, based off Preston Road in Weymouth, discovered on Monday morning (June 28) that the premises had been burgled and their office was ransacked.

The pre-school, which is based at Preston Village hall, had an external door had been forced open as well as locked kitchen cupboards, with packets of biscuits taken from the kitchen. Staff members also saw that a cupboard door was found smashed open and children's toys and office items strewn across the floor.

A quantity of cash was taken along with ink cartridges, a laptop and an iPad were among the items stolen, but a more valuable item was stolen, namely a letter from the Queen.

Deputy manager, Abi Legg explained that the pre-school’s children created a card for the Queen to celebrate her Jubilee and sent a huge Corgi with all of their fingerprints and posted it to Buckingham Palace.

The pre-school received a thank you letter from the Queen and was waiting to unveil it to the children.

She said: “They had all been looking forward to receiving a letter from her Majesty, in response to their efforts. This letter had been received, but was pegged to a line in the office waiting for one of the children to return from holiday before it was opened for everyone to see the reply from the Queen.

“To our complete dismay and disbelief, the letter from Buckingham Palace was also taken by the thieves in the burglary at the pre-school.”

There was also some damage to a much-loved piece of play equipment in the garden as well as damage to an office printer.

Abi Legg was left devastated by the burglary and heartbroken that the letter from the Queen was stolen.

She said: "We are absolutely devastated that this has happened, it is such a busy time as we near towards the end of term. We've been preparing for running the children's field at the Sutton Poyntz Victorian Street Fayre this coming Sunday, July 3 and getting ready for our older children to go to big school, our office was packed with all of the preparations, some of which has been totally ruined. We can’t believe that our letter from Buckingham palace was taken!"

The pre-school was closed for two days while emergency repairs were made, and the site was inspected by police and forensic officers. Staff thanked Dorset Police for their "compassion and help" and also parents "for their messages of support and biscuit deliveries."

It is believed that the break-in occurred between 10pm on Friday, June 24 and 9am on Saturday, June 25, with police officers continuing to investigate the incident.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “We received a report at 8.27am on Monday, June 27 of a break-in to an office area at Preston Village Hall.

“The break-in was believed to have occurred between 10pm on Friday, June 24 and 9am on Saturday, June 25 with a quantity of cash and other items reported to have been stolen. Enquiries are ongoing. No arrests have been made.”