POLICE in Ivybridge have issued a warning not to trespass on the ’unsafe’ Stowford Mill site, following a burglary and vandalism attack on Monday night.

An office and workshop at the now closed paper mill were broken into just after 5.30pm, the culprits making off with various electrical goods and causing serious damage.

CCTV images were captured of the youngsters believed to be responsible, and the controversial step was taken of posting a picture on Facebook with the caption ’do you know this person?’.

Underneath the photo, in which the face of one young man can be clearly seen, the poster wrote: ’Last night at 5.35pm this little scrote and half a dozen of his buddies broke into our office and workshop at Stowford Mill. They stole a Sharp TV, a wifi router and a toaster before smashing the wall with axes and kicking the roller shutter in.

’CCTV footage has been handed to the police for evidence however we would be interested to hear from anyone who knows him.’

PCSO Di Summers from Ivybridge police said that the incident was being investigated as a burglary. She said while posting CCTV images like this was not something the police would encourage, they could not stop people doing it, and she confirmed that officers would be looking at the footage from the scene.

She added: ’They’re saying this is who’s done it, but obviously that’s not proven at this stage.

’We would stress the dangers there at the moment, obviously a lot of the buildings are going to be pulled down, and there’s a lot of smashed glass lying around. It’s really not a safe site to be on.

’The company that is working there has secured all the entrances, and there shouldn’t be anyone going in there.’

Permission was granted earlier this year for the former mill, which closed in 2013 with the loss of many jobs, to be redeveloped into a retail, leisure, business and housing complex to rival Plymouth’s Royal William Yard by Burrington Estates.