A 'DISTRAUGHT' carpenter fears for his future after more than £12,000 worth of tools were stolen from his van.

Self employed Chris Wainwright, aged 32, was devastated after his vehicle was broken into on Wash Lane in Bury. A neighbour reported seeing four men stealing the tools after smashing a window.

Mr Wainwright had built up his collection of tools over 13 years in the trade. They included high end DeWalt and Mikita tools.

A number of the stolen items had been purchased on finance days before the theft – and Mr Wainwright will be forced to continue to pay for them over the next 18 months.

Mr Wainwright, who recently married his wife Shauneen in September, said: "This could not have come at a worse time, it has put me out of work and I'm distraught. I'm not sleeping.

"It will take me a good four years to get back what I have lost. It has destroyed my business, I have had to turn work down because I don't have tools to carry on, and I don't know what I am going to do.

"The people who do this just don't care. The hardest thing is seeing money going out with nothing to show for it."

Since the incident, a gofundme page has been set up by Mr Wainwright's friend Stephen Hilton to help replace the stolen items; gofundme.com/replace-all-chriss-stolen-tools.

The theft comes at a time when Bury tradespeople are reporting an escalating crime spree of tool thefts.

Mr Wainwright said: "I would like the police to do a little bit more, it seems like they don't care, they could have at least tried to get fingerprints."

This was echoed by Lee Butterworth, aged 50, a self-employed plumber and electrician, who had tools totalling £2,460 taken from his Nissan Navara, as it was parked on his drive on Walmersley Road, on the evening of November 20.

The victim of a similar crime in 2015, Mr Butterworth called for greater deterrents, more power to police, and stricter punishments for offenders, in order to tackle such offences.

Mr Butterworth said: "This is going to cripple me because they are essential tools that I use on a weekly basis."

Derek Barton, aged 49, a self-employed bathroom fitter from Bury, has also reported the theft of around £1,500 worth of tools, including a new tile cutter and several drills, from his van on November 4.

Mr Barton had only owned the van for four days when it was burgled whilst parked outside his home in Walmersley Road.

Thieves entered his van through a side door which, unbeknown to him, did not lock properly.

Notwithstanding the financial blow, Mr Barton believes he got away lightly, with his business fortunately being not too badly affected.

He said: "I consider myself quite lucky because I had a spare tile cutter.

"It has cost me about £500 to buy basic tools back but it could have been into the thousands."

"There are thousands and thousands of pounds worth of tools going missing from people's vans every night."

Mr Barton was also unhappy with the police response believing GMP have done nothing to stop the theft of tools from tradespeople's vans, despite the crimes being reported to them.

He said: "I reported my burglary to the police and all they did was give me a crime reference number and advised me to put some smart water on my tools."

He is also suspicious about the destination of stolen tools, a worry he shares with Mr Wainwright, and believes they are subsequently being sold second hand at markets, such as Smithfield in Manchester.

Mr Barton said: "I was told by colleagues to go down to Smithfield market and I was devastated by what I saw down there, with people selling second hand tools.

"There must be hundreds of thousands of pounds of stolen goods being sold down there.

"I'm annoyed that this is happening but there is just no deterrent to stop people from doing this and that is just giving people and open ticket to do what they want."

Detective Chief Inspector Charlotte Cadden of GMP's Bury Borough said: "Theft from cars and vehicles in Bury have shown a seven per cent decrease on last year, which shows that some of the steps we’ve taken with partner agencies are making an impact.

"We’re not complacent though and are taking recent reports of items being stolen from vans overnight, including tools, purses and bank cards, seriously.

"Local neighbourhood officers have been made aware of these reports and will include this as an area to focus on when patrolling.

"We’d also stress the importance of not leaving any items in vehicles overnight and if you are concerned, you can register any important items with the Immobile Property Register for free.

"As always, we’d encourage anyone who has been victim of this type of crime to get in touch with police on 101, or speak to the local neighbourhood directly with any concerns."