WEST Ashton villagers were horrified to discover that the village’s hall defibrillator had been stolen just as they wanted to use it to treat an elderly man who had collapsed there.

More than 50 people were attending a Christmas lunch at the hall in Bratton Road, when a man passed out.

After calling 999, the paramedics said to use the defibrillator, if need be, but when someone went to get the device, which is on the right hand side of the building, it was no longer there.

Parish Council chairman Richard Covington said that the man made a swift recovery but that they were lucky it was not a more serious incident.

“We were fortunate that it was not a more serious incident. Many of us just cannot understand why on earth someone would do this - this is life saving equipment,” he said.

“After making the discovery, we emailed round the village to ask if someone had taken it because it was padlocked and it had a combination to open it.

“However after a few weeks without any responses, we reported it to the police who are looking into it. I do not want to speculate what happened to it.

“This cost around £1,000 and was funded by the village hall committee, the parish council and from a donation. It is such a shocking thing to do.”

The defibrillator was installed at the village hall four years ago and Cllr Covington said the device was soon to have a second servicing.

“A lot of people were surprised and shocked that this could happen. It is very unexpected,” added Cllr Covington.

“We do not have any plans to fundraise to get a new one at the moment.

“We are in talks to have another one installed with a local person who deals with defibrillators.

“There is a parish council meeting this week and we will discuss our next steps there.”

The serial number of the defibrillator is 130400348 and the make is CardiAid.