Vandals have destroyed a life-saving defibrillator at Macdonald Road Library.
It has been in place for just two months outside the entrance to the building aiming to be accessible for anyone 24 hours a day.
It was vandalised overnight on Monday 9 April. The glass in the cabinet was smashed and the defibrillator was removed. The machine was found on Tuesday morning at a building site on Brunswick Road and has been taken away to be checked for damage.
The cabinet remains unusable and will have to be replaced at a cost of approximately £500 before the device can be reinstalled.
This is part of the St John and the City project run by St John Scotland to install more than 100 devices around Edinburgh. The devices help more people to survive cardiac arrest.
Lynn Cleal who leads the St John and the City project said : “It’s really upsetting that someone has senselessly vandalised the defibrillator. We were really pleased to have been able to install the defib at the library joining two others in Leith to serve the local community. We hope we will be able to repair it and get it back into service as soon as possible and to be able to replace the damaged cabinet as soon as we can.
PC Mairi McDonald from Leith police station said : “This was a despicable act with the theft of this equipment depriving the community of a life-saving resource.
“Thankfully the defibrillator has now been recovered but we are eager to tacked whoever was responsible. I would urge anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity around the Mcdonald Road area overnight on Monday 9th April until Tuesday 10th April or who knows who was responsible to contact us as soon as possible via 101 quoting incident number 1555 Alternatively a report can be made to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800555111
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