Tynedale Golf Club left with repair bill after raiders strike

Sep 7 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

The raiders are believed to have got onto the isolated course under cover of darkness and spent around five hours digging the site before slipping away undetected prior to daybreak, possibly with a valuable haul.

Insp Dave Thornhill of Hexham Police said: “Some of the old bottles can be worth £100 each and these people go looking for particular ones.

“We’ve been looking at this bottle-digging problem for five or six years since it first happened here.

“It’s where the old tip is and because it goes back to the 19th century there are believed to be Victorian bottles in there, which are quite valuable.”

One man from Nottingham is facing a criminal damage charge in connection with the picturesque Tynedale course after being traced earlier this year.

The club is now determined to prevent any further repeat.

Mr Murphy said: “We were scheduled to have security patrols in place by the end of this month, but we will probably bring that forward now.

“There is going to be proper private security that we will have to pay for along with Northumberland County Council, as we are jointly-funded.

“It is an expense that we could have done without.”

Mr Murphy added ruefully: “It beats me. A bottle is just a bottle as far as I’m concerned.

“But these particular bottles are causing us a heck of a lot of problems.”