THIEVES smashed into a primary school in Halliwell and escaped with a £12,000 haul of laptops.

The raiders cut their way through some wire fencing at the back of Oxford Grove Primary School before breaking a glass door to get inside.

As the alarm at the Shepherd Cross Street school sounded, the thieves went into the staff room before heading for the resources area.

From there they stole 30 Dell Latitude 3340 laptops, which are worth about £400 each new. It is thought the school had acquired them only recently.

A police investigation has now been launched after the raid, which happened at about 9.20pm on Thursday, February 26.

Security response arrived at the school, which caters for children aged 2-11, with a nursery also on site, shortly after the alarm sounded, but by then the thieves had left through the smashed door.

Nobody has been arrested yet, and police are unsure how many people were involved in the break-in.

They are now planning to trawl through CCTV footage from the school.

PC Danny Pugh said: “The perpetrators of this break-in have stolen expensive IT equipment which was helping the education of very young children.

“The laptops they stole are together worth thousands of pounds.

“Anyone prepared to carry out such a heartless crime needs to be caught as soon as possible.

“We would like anyone who thinks they may have seen anything around the school at this time to get in touch with police.

“And people should also be wary if they are offered one of these laptops from a private seller for a cut-price deal.”

The school was unavailable for comment.

Police have a list of serial numbers to check any laptops that potential customers may be suspicious of.

In November, ten laptops were stolen from Kearsley Academy and £3,000 of damage was caused in a raid.

Anyone with information can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.