Vandals have pulled a life-saving defibrillator from its cabinet – throwing the contents on the street in the pouring rain.

The owner of The Village Store at Gosforth is furious with the culprits as the defibrillator was only installed before Christmas.

David Ancell said: "They have ripped open the cabinet and put it on the floor. I'll have to get in contact with the ambulance service to replace it.

"Our defibrillator is the only one in the village, I'm shocked this has happened. It's a shame that people feel they need to do stupid things like this.

"We are at the heart of the community. We don't have any CCTV which covers the outside of the shop. It's now going to be out of use until we can get new parts."

Mr Ancell said they carry out weekly checks on the defibrillator and when staff left the shop on Saturday night it was still as it should be.

It was when a staff worker turned up for work on Sunday morning, that she discovered what had happened.

"It's such a shame this has happened."

Although there is CCTV inside of the shop, there is none outside so will not have caught the culprits.

Mr Ancell has not reported the incident to police.