A call has been made for tighter security at an Angus mental hospital after thousands of pounds’ worth of material was stolen.
Thieves broke in and stole over two tons of copper piping from the vacant Carnegie Clinic at Sunnyside Royal Hospital at Hillside.
The theft could have taken place at any time between June 1 and August 5.
NHS Tayside reported the matter to police last week after it found that up to £8000 of copper piping had been stolen from the old mansion house.
Parts of Sunnyside have already been closed and the health board is looking to shut it totally next year, replaced by a new 52-bed unit at Stracathro scheduled to open in September 2011.
The health board said the building where the copper was stolen is separate from the main Sunnyside structure. It was locked and the windows boarded up.
However, criticising the board for lax security, Montrose councillor Sandy West called for extra measures to safeguard the property.
He said, “It is very worrying that it has taken such a long time for this theft to be noticed.
“Large vacant buildings can often become the target for thieves looking for scrap metal and so on.Building isolated”Carnegie house sits isolated from the other buildings and the thieves obviously had an idea of the layout of the building and knew what security measures were in place, or not, so they could go about stripping the place without getting caught.”
He added, “While visiting the site I was also told Carnegie house wasn’t the only building where the thieves have been busy.
“I think some form of night watchman has to be brought in to prevent this from happening, as well as other security measures.”
The house has been disused since last year when the Tayside Alcohol Problem Service, previously based there, moved to another part of the hospital.
An NHS Tayside spokeswoman said, “We can confirm that copper piping has been stolen from the Sunnyside site. We have reported it to the police, who are investigating the situation.
“We are currently taking advice from Tayside Police regarding security of the site.”
She was unable to say whether material had been stolen from any other Sunnyside buildings.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Tayside Police on 0300 1112222.