THIEVES who raided a Poundbury building site for scraps of copper piping have been labelled ‘desperate’.

The site manager for KDJ Slade and Sons, Mark Fowler, said the burglars who broke into the site on St John Way made off with ‘a couple of armfuls’ at most of metal piping yet caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Mr Fowler is overseeing the construction of four homes that are due for completion at the start of October and says the raid has caused up to a week of delay in the project.

The thieves targeted each of the four-bedroom homes on the site, ripping piping from the walls.

Mr Fowler said: “Basically, they got in over the weekend and took a load of copper pipes.

“I reckon they probably got no more than two armfuls, it was little bits.

“The worst thing about it was the damage they caused from ripping it out and the cost of labour to replace it.”

Mr Fowler urged anyone who had seen anything last weekend, between the evening of Friday, June 4, and the following Monday morning, to get in touch with the police.

He said he believed the thieves climbed over a side wall to enter the premises, which is secured at the weekends, with all tools removed from site.

Mr Fowler said he would be surprised if the total value of the copper stolen from the site amounted to more than £20 while the cost to repair the damage would be ‘in the thousands’.

He added: “It’s pretty sad and pretty desperate, it’s the inconvenience it causes us more than anything.

“We are on a tight enough schedule as it is.”

The theft took place on the same weekend that lead was stolen from the roof of Poundbury Garden Society’s store, the latest in a series of lead thefts in the area.

Mr Fowler said his building site had also been broken into five weeks ago, although the culprits had only made off with one tool. Inspector Les Fry of Dorchester Police confirmed the theft had been reported to police on Monday morning and asked anyone with information to call 01305 222222.