http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news?articleid=3085182
The hut in Mostyn was hit by arsonists, leaving the young cadets facing a bleak future
YOUNG army cadets are facing a bleak future after a gang of arsonists senselessly torched their headquarters.
The vandals broke into the Army Cadet Hut on Coast Road in Mostyn on Wednesday night and set fire to the store room, destroying all the furniture and equipment.The group, who were dressed in hooded sweatshirts, jumped the seven foot barbed wire fence and forced open the building's fire exit.
Once inside, they started a fire in the rear of the building, which has just been refurbished and relaunched to offer local youths activities and training.As the fire started to spread through the hut, Cadet officer Colin Hughes arrived to carry out maintenance and caught the teens in the act.Mr Hughes, of the Mostyn Platoon 4th Cadet Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers, said: "All the cadets and other officers are away at summer camp, so I just thought I'd nip down there to see if the floor needed polishing – lucky I did."I knew something was wrong when I arrived.
There were three teenagers with their hoods pulled up and the store room was on fire. It was really bad, they ran out when they saw me and jumped back over the fence."If I hadn't have got there when I did we wouldn't have a hut. As it is they've destroyed everything inside."Mr Hughes called the fire service who extinguished the blaze.Yesterday, crime scene investigators from North Wales Police picked through the wreckage and discovered a den made in the woods behind the hunt, which was being used as a hangout for teenagers.
The Mostyn Platoon had only reopened in January and had recruited their 13-strong cadets from scratch.Mr Hughes added: "I'm absolutely gutted. It's a real blow. We'll have to wait and see if we can reopen. At the start of this year we had no-one and now we've got 13 cadets ranging from 12 to 18-years-old, from Ffynnongroyw, Gronant and Mostyn."We've worked really hard and were about to start recruiting."We still have the building. It's mostly smoke damage but we may have to use the parade ground at Holywell for the time being."Catherine Hughes lives next to the hut and her thirteen year-old-son is a member of the platoon.She said: "He's away at camp at the moment but he's going to be distraught when he gets back, he loves being in the cadet's.
"There's always someone who ruins it for everyone else."
Detectives are now looking to trace the culprits.A spokesperson for North Wales Police said: "Officers were called by the Fire Service at 9:30pm on Wednesday, August 1 after three youths were seen running away from the area towards the Mostyn estate shortly after the fire started."
A spokeswoman for the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service added: "The cause of the fire was deliberate ignition caused by children.
"Anyone with information should contact PC2559 Alex Griffiths at Flint Police Station on 0845 607 1002 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
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