Callous thieves target Fairy Bricks charity
Posted by Huw,
Fairy Bricks, the charity that donates LEGO to children in hospitals in the UK and beyond, suffered a devastating blow over the weekend when thieves cut through the wall of its warehouse and stole pallet-loads of LEGO, and the Fairy Bricks van. (Update: the van has been found and is now being examined by police.)
This is particularly devastating and despicable at the moment because the charity can't raise funds, as it normally would, at LEGO events. Despite this, and the challenging times in which we live, it has still been managing to make donations across Europe. The callous thieves have not only stolen the LEGO but also the joy and happiness that it would have brought to sick children in hospital.
So, please be on the lookout for large quantities of LEGO being offered for sale, locally or online, at prices too good to be true.
If you any information that is likely to be of use to the police, please contact Crimestoppers or West Yorkshire police directly and, if you'd like to, you can make a donation to the charity.
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80 comments on this article
Absolutely disgusting. Fingers crossed the sets are found and the thieves punished.
That is very disheartening news:( I hope they are able to recover at least some of their missing Lego and the van.
Disgusting. This literally makes me sick.
Didn’t Fairy Bricks have the van cut through last time?? And this time the warehouse cut through?
How can these people live with themselves! Scum of the earth!
Do we know what actual LEGO sets they had stolen? So we can all lookout for these particular ones?
I can’t even try to imagine what would push a person to do such terrible act, truly disgusting
I hope Karma kicks in
Wait, didn’t this happen before? What are the odds it was the same bunch of bandits?
@DragonLord56 said:
"Definitive proof of the existence of Satan...
At least it's comforting that these people won't get away with this horrible crime. Whether or not they are eventually caught, God will judge them."
Amen.
Guess we will nee Lego Scooby-Doo to help lol.
So so very sad, and completely disgusting behaviour. I hope the thieves are caught.
Horrible. If you're in that area be on the lookout also for what looks like a spray painted van of the same model.
@Fireheart said:
"Didn’t Fairy Bricks have the van cut through last time?? And this time the warehouse cut through?
How can these people live with themselves! Scum of the earth!
Do we know what actual LEGO sets they had stolen? So we can all lookout for these particular ones? "
Indeed! It would be helpful to know what to be on the lookout for, since just "Lego" being for sale isn't something uncommon.
I'm hoping the perpetrators will see the error of their ways and give back what they've taken. It's actually fairly common that desperate people, often those in need of charity themselves, target charities for theft. I'm not a believer in gods or karma, but I'm pretty confident wishing more bad things to happen isn't the answer. I'll put some money and/or Lego into the charity to help restore some positivity.
What a twisted world this is.
@ComfySofa said:
"I'm hoping the perpetrators will see the error of their ways and give back what they've taken. It's actually fairly common that desperate people, often those in need of charity themselves, target charities for theft. I'm not a believer in gods or karma, but I'm pretty confident wishing more bad things to happen isn't the answer. I'll put some money and/or Lego into the charity to help restore some positivity."
If they need charity for themselves they should have asked and help would be delivered.
Plot twist, it was all Brickheadz.
Why do they always do that to them? I mean,really,once,ok,but to target charity several times... awful people
Words fail me...
Don't I remember a similar thing that already happened to them a few years ago? On the truck or something? I just can't understand how people can even have the idea of doing something like this. I love human beings, but sometimes I really come to hate people...
This is so disappointing I can’t believe someone would do this
@DragonLord56 said:
"Definitive proof of the existence of Satan...
At least it's comforting that these people won't get away with this horrible crime. Whether or not they are eventually caught, God will judge them."
Amen to this.
If I am right in saying this has happened before quite recently, wonder if its the same scumbag/s.
I mean its horrible to steal from a charity . Will definitely be keeping an eye out on eBay for any sets sold in that area which seem too good to be true.
@Modeltrainman said:
" @DragonLord56 said:
"Definitive proof of the existence of Satan...
At least it's comforting that these people won't get away with this horrible crime. Whether or not they are eventually caught, God will judge them."
Amen to this."
Let’s hope the people behind this will realize what they’ve done is wrong and turn away from it eventually.
Stealing from a charity once is sad enough. But doing it a second time is downright evil. :-(
How can these people live with themselves!? >:(
It would be interesting to have access to a list of items to avoid purchasing stolen Lego from these attempts of human life.
Destiny will take care of them eventually, stealing from children is really the lowest level you can get in life, but I want something more for these virus.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but the phrase "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" comes to mind.
And why are these thieves continuing to target a Lego operation? If you're going to steal something, why would you target Legos? Aren't there more lucrative products to steal (and sell). Something is not right here.
@woosterlegos said:
"This may be an unpopular opinion, but the phrase "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" comes to mind.
And why are these thieves continuing to target a Lego operation? If you're going to steal something, why would you target Legos? Aren't there more lucrative products to steal (and sell). Something is not right here.
"
Sometimes thieves are people who know the people they are stealing from.
How heartbreaking.... I suppose we should try to remember honest people far out way the dishonest, I don't know how many staff are at Fairy Bricks or how many donate but I'm sure they outnumber the few who did this mean horribly selfish thing. I have just made a donation thru the link.... If others do to, remember to increase your donate by 25% for free with gift aid.
At news like this, I can't even form words.. Just strange noises with my cheeks and lips is all I can muster...
WHY!!!!! Not even a question! It's a Statement!!! WHY!!!!
This is absolutely horrible and disgusting that anyone would do this. Those poor children. My heart breaks for them.
How depraved does someone have to be to steal from children in hospitals?
First the van, now this.
I nearly cried. I’m really sorry for what has happened. I hope these criminals will be brought to justice.
Lego is a valuable commodity. Easy to flip for cash, nearly untraceable. Im very sad to hear about this, and unfortunately its not uncommon. All charities and collectors need to be careful.
@bogdanst said:
"Why do they always do that to them? I mean,really,once,ok,but to target charity several times... awful people"
We don't know that it's the same perpetrators both times. Quite possibly, but not definitely.
I am in no way exculpating those responsible - I think they're total megablocks - but they may not have realised that the LEGO was for charity. Would it have made any difference if they had? Maybe, maybe not. They may be drug addicts trying to feed narcotics habits in which case possibly not.
Firstly, can’t believe people are writing ‘lol’ or joking they were all Brickheadz. It’s not exactly a laughing matter.
Secondly, I really hope they get caught but it’s also possible they’ll get away with it and they’ll live their lives unpunished for this.
I doubt Karma will affect them or anything after they die. All we can hope for is some good police work or someone busting them on eBay or locally. I’ll definitely be making a contribution to help them recover from this and I hope a bunch of other people reading this awful news do too!
Oh, and that ‘fool me once’ comment was also totally unnecessary. If bad people want to steal something badly enough they’ll usually find a way.
@Spartan_Ghost said:
"It’s stuff like this that makes me die inside and completely lose faith in humanity."
It's stuff like this that makes me come alive and completely gain faith in humanity as we come together to help a group that shares in our hobby.
Donation sent. Thanks for letting us know of a way we can support this great charity!
Is there a way we can donate? either money or spare sets we have lying around ?
How much of a degenerate do you have to be to steal from a charity? Especially during a time of crisis. I hope the warehouse has some decent security and if not, I really hope they upgrade it soon.
@twentythree said:
" @Spartan_Ghost said:
"It’s stuff like this that makes me die inside and completely lose faith in humanity."
It's stuff like this that makes me come alive and completely gain faith in humanity as we come together to help a group that shares in our hobby.
Donation sent. Thanks for letting us know of a way we can support this great charity!"
I wish more people had an attitude like that.
I believe an article on charity theft was posted here a few years ago, but if memory serves it was nowhere as bad as this! Look at how they've just thrown everything around!
On a more positive note, what kind of sets do you think make charity children happy? If I was one I'd love to get a Ninjago spinner/arcade pod, or if they still made them a BIONICLE set. Things like those may be small and cheap, but you really get a chance to "get to know" the subject of the set, for a lot of people it's like making a new best friend.
Hindsight being 20/20, we should have called it quits at 2019.
@Fireheart:
2017, right around the time when they were going to start delivering stuff, the left side door looked like it had been peeled open with a Jaws of Life device. Presumably, unless they were able to find the keys inside of the building, they damaged the van a second time in order to steal it.
@PixelTheDragon:
Surprisingly high, I think. I don't know how true it is, but I've read that after a bank has been robbed once, it's not uncommon for it to be robbed again soon after (though this may have been more true during the wild-west days than modern times). It seems like an easy score, plus any research you did to pull off the first job probably still applies. Not being caught the first time also gives you an inflated sense of what you can get away with. That's why all those people who used barcode scams to buy expensive LEGO sets on the cheap eventually got caught. Every single one of them got greedy, and refused to walk away from "a good thing". I've been watching a show called "Good Girls" (girls, yes, but they're definitely not good), and the career criminal they get entangled with mentions during the first season that the reason why he hasn't been caught when so many others of his type have is because he likes to change his game. He'll pursue one criminal activity for a while, and after he's made a pile of money at that, he'll come up with something completely new so the cops who are investigating the previous crime won't have any new info to go on, and if you go from drug dealing to counterfeiting to identity theft, they won't suspect that the crimes are related because they're so different (ironically, three seasons in they're still exclusively dealing with counterfeiting).
@chuckschwa:
I remember reading about someone whose personal collection was emptied out of his basement _while_ he was home, and the best he could figure out was that a close friend purposefully kept him occupied on the first floor while one or more accomplices used a side entrance to make off with everything. It's the people who you trust who are more likely to know that there's something worth stealing, what that something is, where it's located, and some idea of how to get access to it without getting caught in the act.
Can you add a photo of the Van to the article so when this story is shared about people know what to be looking for?
@Fireheart
Likely mostly Star Wars, Harry Potter, other licensed themes. There seem to be tons of Friends sets left in the image. Also lots of black and orange Overwatch Boxes are left.There are also many indigo TLM2 boxes, thankfully the Benny's Space Squads survived! That set brings joy to everybody. There seems to be suspiciously little CITY, only a few boxes off to the left. No idea what theme the white boxes in the middle are. Also I think the lime green boxes are DUPLO. So TLM2 sets, Friends, Duplo, Overwatch all seem to have been mostly ignored because they probably don't sell well on the secondary market.
On Brickheadz: I spied none in the crime scene image, so the thieves *could* have taken them, but of course let's be serious, the thieves took other sets.
So in summary the the types of sets would be CITY (basically confirmed given by only a tiny haphazard pile left) licenses other than Overwatch and maybe Ninjago and Creator.
Yeah, I have really good eyesight.
What the Hell.......
i am shocked......
is this more of the madness ppl are getting from being locked inside there homes for to long?
making them think this was a good idea.
like that Hot day last mouth and Brighton beach.
crazy! and the Van's are Marked...
@huw please keep us up to date on this, and if there found. the set's the van's or the A**hole who did it.
Judging by the second pic on facebook with where they've cut through to gain access, you've gotta suspect this is an inside job which to me is even more disgusting then stealing from a charity in the first place.
As said, would be helpful to know what sets were taken so we can look out for those particular ones suddenly appearing for sale.
here is a idea,
evrey set that Fairy Bricks get, gets a stikker over the barcode that can not be removed with out ripping the box. saying somethink like "Fairy Bricks charity donation Not for resale"
it will not stop them but it will make it more easy to find the missing set's.
I am not one to advocate for violence, but being someone that donates to Fairy Bricks and Toys for Tots via Lego sets in dropoff bins, I hope these thieves get their teeth kicked in.
@Norikins, my guess is that the white boxes are Unikitty sets, which would also explain why they are practically untouched: Unikitty makes a great charity gift, but doesn't sell very well secondhand
Did the best thing I can do to help from here in the states.. PayPal a little something Fairy Bricks’ way. Help them rebuild and move forward helping kids.
Absolutely disgusting.
Stealing in itself is a sin, but stealing from charity is more, it's maddeningly vile.
I'd like to punch the idiots who did this. What kind of sicko is like this.
I know how this feels. Me and my family had a CD case with about 20 years of CD's in it stolen from our vehicle. This is terrible.
This is a disgrace! Sadly, the adversarial system (used in UK and here in Australia) means that these swinehund perpetrators will undoubtedly get off lightly, as criminals always do. :(
How can one steal from a charity, especially for sick children???
@chrisalddin:
Sounds a bit expensive, but possibly necessary if they want to avoid a threepeat.
I believe this happened before to a fairy bricks van, if I am not mistaken
Do you know which specific sets were stolen and sold at too good to be true prices?
'tis shameful behaviour.
As many others have said, I am absolutely disgusted at this horrible sight. The thought that someone would so brazenly steal things that were intended to bring children needed joy solely for personal gain is absolutely despicable. Hopefully the horrible instigators are swiftly brought to justice!
The police should at least do a Storage Solutions Article for us of them once caught.
This comes to mind:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=glD17Lyh8EE
I donated last time this happened right before Christmas if I recall correctly. I just sent another donation to help a good charity out. Now one thing that comes to my mind is was there absolutely no security in that building. If so that is rather foolish given the history of robbery. They cut a hole in the wall cleared an entire warehouse and made off with a van. All of these activities would have set off a simple motion detector in a heartbeat not to mention the need to open an overhead door to drive a van out. Not to mention how much time this would take even with multiple purps. I’m an owner of a car shop and our land lord had a few robbery problems and he installed very simple cameras and door cams and actually busted the idiots because they kept coming back and a camera got a shot of their license plate. Without those cams the police would have no chance to track these idiots. They were literally stealing sprinkler valves out of the lawn and then reselling to landscaping companies. I know im gonna get my ass reamed for this post but when you have a robbery problem you beef up security and criminals stay away or you have evidence to catch them next time they strike. Security is our responsibility.
@Skippyj said:
"I donated last time this happened right before Christmas if I recall correctly. I just sent another donation to help a good charity out. Now one thing that comes to my mind is was there absolutely no security in that building. If so that is rather foolish given the history of robbery. They cut a hole in the wall cleared an entire warehouse and made off with a van. All of these activities would have set off a simple motion detector in a heartbeat not to mention the need to open an overhead door to drive a van out. Not to mention how much time this would take even with multiple purps. I’m an owner of a car shop and our land lord had a few robbery problems and he installed very simple cameras and door cams and actually busted the idiots because they kept coming back and a camera got a shot of their license plate. Without those cams the police would have no chance to track these idiots. They were literally stealing sprinkler valves out of the lawn and then reselling to landscaping companies. I know im gonna get my ass reamed for this post but when you have a robbery problem you beef up security and criminals stay away or you have evidence to catch them next time they strike. Security is our responsibility. "
Fair point. But honestly, we should be getting more mad at the perpetrators than the victims. Yes, Fairy Bricks does seem to have some pretty daft security, but if there weren’t stealing a**holes to begin with, anti-theft technology would be redundant. Also note that maybe Fairy Bricks thought the previous break-in was a one-and-done ordeal, and decided that it was more worthwhile spending the money towards helping more kids than cameras and motion detectors.
Disheartening news for sure but since this is the second time they obviously need to invest in proper security measures. It's sad that money needs to be diverted from more LEGO to help but such is the times we live in. Yes, the crooks are in the wrong but that won't stop them or similarly thinking ones from repeating the cycle if they know they can get away with it.
Donated, and happy to.
Just a thought, but worth also keeping a lookout on BrickLink for a new or hugely restocked seller... they might not all be sold as boxed sets. Some might be broken down....
Looks like they've now found the van, in good condition.. latest updates on their FB page.
Again?!?!?!?! O tempora, o mores...
This is terrible. Some of us set us a gofundme to help out: https://gf.me/u/ygdisn
If you can spare a little change to help or share the page!
These stolen sets will be stored in a loft or garage and sold on the black market (local pubs and housing estates) nearer Christmas. Unless they catch them, which I’d like to say is fairly likely as we’re the most surveilled country in Europe. Pity we haven’t got brutal punishments to match.
^ Despite the fact that the UK has the most CCTV per capita in the world, our rate of burglaries solved is only about 5%. So not very likely those responsible will get caught.
When Fairy Bricks was targeted last time, I don’t think the perpetrators faced justice; the police never figured out who did it as far as I know.
What a heinous and utterly cruel deed...
Some people are too cynical and think they have all rights to rule over the most unsecure ans sick chiidren...
To the people who are responsible for such despicable act, I wish you all the worst things in life.
I hope Fairy Bricks charity bounces back even stronger!
Looking on the positive side here, it looks like they have sets left to donate and weren't completely cleaned out.
Donation made (albeit a small one). Apart from this cowardly act being absolutely despicable by itself, I just hope this was not also an inside job... that would make this theft an even more bitter pill to swallow.
Hopefully the perpetrators will be caught soon and I wish Fairy Bricks all the best in their recovery and continuation of their good cause for the sake of all hospitalized children!
Lastly, I hope the ones responsible will -at one point in their lives- come to terms with what their actions have caused and change their lives for the better.
@CCC:
That's a common perception, but running the numbers shows that pricing on all themes can be all over the map. Some sets have great value, and others do not, and the theme usually doesn't matter.
Why doesn't Fairy Bricks file an insurance claim? It is a case clear as day, and it'll help them bounce back. Plus, the insurance company might have a few tips on how to reduce the chances of this happening a third time.
Wankers.
Hello,
Kev here from Fairy Bricks. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond I won't be addressing individual people in this thread (nor the follow up listing some of the sets taken) but I will try to give some general responses.
Yes this is the second time we have been targeted by thieves however the only comparison between the two is the fact that LEGO sets were taken. I can only repeat the notes the Police have been giving me. This was an operation carried out by a serious organised crime gang who have likely been watching us for quite a while. While their entry point may appear to be crude they were sophisticated in their operations. Despite the number of people involved very little forensic evidence has been obtained within the warehouse or the recovered vehicle. These guys were serious and knew exactly what they were doing.
In response to the keyboard investigators suggesting things like inside job etc. Clearly the investigating Police Officers don't share your wisdom otherwise I would be locked up as would other members of staff. If you don't mean me or a member of the team and just someone who has happened to be in the building at some point then you're probably right. Someone who has been inside like a tradesman, a delivery driver etc and has said something to someone who has said something to someone else etc. That is probable but unless there are convictions its unlikely we will ever know.
Stickers on boxes is something that already happens but not every set is stickered as it enters the building. I could go into the practical details about why that isn't possible but it simply isn't. Unless you're involved in a warehousing environment it's very difficult to appreciate the volume of sets we actually go through, even for AFOLs. During the recent NHS Campaign over 30,000 sets with an RRP of over £500,000 left the building. Just try and imagine how much LEGO it is if you're lucky enough to spend say £2000/month on sets. Think of that volume every month for a year and it is still a drop in the ocean. I've had serious hardcore AFOLs volunteering inside and even they struggle to get their heads around the throughput
The type of sets in our inventory. This fluctuates throughout the year. We have access to sets and in particular volumes of sets that are not available through regular retail channels or AFOL Support Programs some of you may be familiar with. A "bad" set from an AFOL perspective isn't necessarily that from a child one. In particular a child in hospital. One of the most loathed themes in recent years, Super Hero Girls went down an absolute storm when we had them. The same is happening now with PowerPuff Girls.
Security and in particular overall site security is under review with several professional agencies involved. Changes will be made but I will refer back to the professionalism of the criminals involved here. They wanted to rob us and even an on site security presence wouldn't have been enough and could have resulted in someone being hurt or even worse.
This robbery has shaken the organisation and the individuals involved to our very core. I know speaking personally that Tuesday was the worst day of my life. Monday I think I was in shock but the devastation struck me on Tuesday, probably because of the amount of media engagements I had to be involved in. The rest of the team feels the same way but we are recovering. It would be easy to throw in the towel and walk away but that isn't going to happen and next week we will be making some socially distanced hospital visits.
A huge part of that recovery is the support pouring in from both the AFOL Community and society at large. For those of you doing that by positive posts, donations, searching for sets and everything else, you have my genuine heartfelt gratitude. The support offered to us via TLG has been nothing short of remarkable. Yes they have been public posts etc but I'm referring to the things that are not public and are nothing to do with money and resources.
Apologies for the long post!
@hairyfairy:
It's good to know that the people in your organization are basically being ruled out as suspects. I was one of the people suggesting that "inside job" could include any stranger who had been granted access to the building for a variety of legitimate reasons, but even I didn't suspect this would turn out to be a professional organized crime outfit.
But on the subject of upgrades, conspicuous security cameras advertise their presence to deter crimes more than they help catch the criminals after the fact, and they don't put any person at risk if anything does happen. On-site security is expensive (you're paying a minimum of four full-time employees just to have one person patrolling the grounds 24/7, and generally speaking you'd need a minimum of two people when you factor in breaks and doing physical walks of the property), and does put people at risk, but the idea is to make someone else look like a more attractive target rather than being able to fend off an armed assault.
When I was in high school, I worked for a guy who builds boats. He commented once that you can get into the interior of any boat with a hammer and crowbar, but putting a padlock on it just keeps honest people honest. I once had some stuff stolen out of my car. They didn't break a window to get in because they saw something worth taking, though. They walked through the parking lot checking door handles, and it turned out that (unbeknownst to me) the lock on my driver side front door no longer worked properly (the only way to actually lock it was with the key). They stole any random item that they could potentially fence for a buck or two, and even damaged the back seat trying to get into the trunk (the car was ancient enough that it didn't have fold-down seating or a trunk release button, so all they managed to do was bend the corner of the seatback). Point is, that car (which I traded in a few days later) made me a target of opportunity. Lack of visible security at your site made you one as well. There's no guarantee that adding cameras and/or security guards will prevent a third break-in, but not doing so will almost certainly encourage it. Do what you gotta do to make sure we don't read about a third break-in. Given the new info you've provided, I'm not really holding out hope that they'll catch anyone anymore.