Hunt to find live-saving defibrillator missing from cabinet outside Sheffield school

A life-saving defibrillator has gone missing from its cabinet outside a Sheffield school.
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The public defibrillator disappeared from its key-coded cabinet outside Hunter’s Bar Junior School, in Sharrow Vale Road, at some point in the last week according to school staff.

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Rebecca Ardern, Hunter’s Bar Junior School Business Manager, said the school carries out regular weekly checks on the unit.

The defibrillator cabinet outside Hunters Bar Junior SchoolThe defibrillator cabinet outside Hunters Bar Junior School
The defibrillator cabinet outside Hunters Bar Junior School
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However, it was only after receiving an email from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service that staff were alerted to the disappearance.

Mrs Ardern said: “We are in regular contact with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. If someone rings 999 they can get the code to open the unit, and they always update us when it has been used.

“The ambulance service emailed to say someone had wanted to use the defibrillator but they couldn’t as it wasn’t there. It was there last week but not this week.”

The school are now appealing for information on the whereabouts of the missing unit.

The life-saving defibrillator has gone missing from outside Hunter's Bar Junior SchoolThe life-saving defibrillator has gone missing from outside Hunter's Bar Junior School
The life-saving defibrillator has gone missing from outside Hunter's Bar Junior School
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“We are still hopeful it hasn’t been stolen and it is just a case of it being brought back,” Mrs Ardern added. “We hope that it has saved someone's life and has just not been returned yet.”

Children at the school joined forces with the Sharrow Vale Community Forum to raise money for the device, as well as its upkeep and maintenance.

It has been used around 10 times since it was installed just over a year ago – sometimes as a precaution but other times to save members of the public.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the defibrillator can contact Hunter’s Bar Junior School on 0114 266 0547.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service have been contacted for comment and The Star are awaiting a response.