A CHARITY has been left angered after a public defibrillator was vandalised.

Kristian Speirs, team leader at Barrow and Walney First Responders, said he was livid after discovering their Douglas Street defibrillator on Walney Island was damaged by an unknown person.

“For whatever reason someone has smashed the box off the wall left it in pieces and the defibrillator has fallen out and is now broken," he said.

“I have reacted the same as everybody else and just thought: ‘Why is there a need for this pointless vandalism to a piece of vital equipment?’

"These defibrillators have been on the island for over 10 years now and we have had a couple of incidents where kids have messed around with but not when someone has actually broken them."

He posted an appeal to the group's Facebook page in the hope someone will come forward with information.

"I am really annoyed by this and the rest of the team are livid," he said.

"If you read the comments on the Facebook post everyone is just wondering why you would want to vandalise a defibrillator.”

Mr Speirs said Cumbria Police are investigating.

It will cost £1,500 to replace the broken defibrillator.

The broken defibrillator was previously used in an incident, he said.

He is now concerned the equipment will not be available if someone is suffering a cardiac arrest or heart attack.

Call operators sometimes recommend members of the public to use a community defibrillator while someone is suffering from a cardiac arrest to increase their chances of survival.

“There is a real danger now if someone needs that defibrillator but because of this incident there won’t be one," said Mr Speirs.

The charity is now looking to replace the defibrillator and will be looking at possible fundraisers.