A Benfleet school was today counting the cost after thieves broke in and stole valuable computer equipment - days before the start of the new school year.

Police investigating the theft warned schools to be more security conscious following the theft of an estimated £5,000 worth of equipment as pupils were preparing for the start of school tomorrow.

Thieves made off with the computers after breaking into the Appleton School in Croft Road by forcing a window at the weekend.

Police were called to the incident yesterday morning to find three open windows.

Chief Inspector Dave King, of Rayleigh Police, said: "It looks like they got in through one window, stole the computers and came back out through two others.

"The schools are obviously just returning back from the holiday and we would hope that all the security checks are now in place.

"Because of the value of computers, they should all be marked with a special security code as a matter of course."

The computers were stolen from the school's careers library. The school's headteacher and staff were in a meeting today and nobody was available for comment.

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