A HEADTEACHER has employed security guards at his school to protect it from thieves who have stolen more than £36,000 worth of computers in the past six months.

Tony Buckley, headteacher of George Tomlinson School in Kearsley, has spent £5,000 on extra security measures after thieves broke into the school for a second time on Monday night and stole £20,000 worth of computer equipment .

They climbed on to the roof of the building and used a pickaxe to break through and steal 25 laptop computers.

In the previous raid last May, thieves stole 13 laptop computers, worth almost £16,000, from a locked Information Technology room.

The attack has angered Mr Buckley, who said that his school would now be patrolled 24 hours a day, seven days a week by a caretaker and the two security guards who started work on Tuesday night.

He said: "I feel so angry -- and upset for the pupils who will suffer because of the theft of these computers.

"I would have much preferred to have invested the money spent on security in other ways, instead of having to turn the school into Fort Knox.

"The computers were used by a GCSE class, which means we will have to find extra computers for them to complete their work. This will cause a knock-on that will affect other pupils."

Mr Buckley said that the two security guards were from Johnson Security Services, based in Bolton, and cost the school over £100 a night.

The security guards work at the school from 6pm until 7am the following morning, when the caretaker begins his shift and takes over the security of the school.

After the first robbery, the school bought four heavy duty shutters that were erected outside the ICT suite and sought advice from the police on how to improve their security.

The school has given police the serial numbers of the computers.

If anyone is offered the computers, or has information about the theft, contact Farnworth CID on 0161 856 5840 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.