A SAFE containing “over £5,000” has been stolen from a popular community centre in Basingstoke.

Hampshire Constabulary were alerted by a member of the public, that the Irish Community Centre (ICC) had been broken into, with a massive hole in one of the building’s wall.

Police were called to the premises, in Council Road, Basingstoke, at 8.09am on Monday, December 5, and a short time later it was reported that a safe was stolen.

The burglary happened overnight on Sunday, December 4.

Andy McFadden, chairman of the ICC, said: “I’m shocked.

“It’s not nice to see, but the person who did this must have had a fairly good idea of the place. They just knocked through the wall from the outside and have just taken it out.”

Mr McFadden, who has worked at the centre for decades, estimated the safe may have contained over £5,000.

He also said that this was the first kind of a break-in he had witnessed during his association with the centre.

Anyone with information contact police on 101 quoting 44160457468.