CRUEL thieves have put dozens of Christmas events all over the Abergavenny area at risk after breaking into a van owned by one of the town’s best known DJs Matt Lane, and stealing his entire mobile disco kit.

The theft happened after Matt, who owns AM Discos, and his partner Keri had run a disco at Abergavenny Pantomime Company’s annual Christmas Party at the Labour Club in Abergavenny and stopped off in the Brewers Fayre in Llanfoist for a meal on their way home.

“We finished the disco at 9pm and then packed away and stopped in for something to eat at the Brewers Fayre at 9.45,” said a devastated Matt.

“We left the restaurant at 10:50pm and when I got back to my lock up to unload I was horrified to see all of my equipment apart from my framework, which was too big to carry, was gone,” he said.

“They’ve taken everything! Around £4,000 worth of stuff. All they’d left was my small tool bag and a couple of extention leads.

“They’ve even taken my Blues Brothers suit which was only in there to be washed and ironed ready for tomorrow night’s gig! I’m just absolutely devastated,” said Matt.

Matt and Keri immediately returned to Llanfoist where staff at the neighbouring McDonald’s and Premier Inn checked CCTV footage for the relevant time and spotted a Nissan Terano come into the car park at around 10:19pm and leave around 10:24pm.

“ The CCTV?showed they pulled up alongside my van, broke the lock on the driver’s door and gained access to the rear of the van, then proceeded to unload my livelihood into their vehicle and drive away,” said Matt, who is well known in Abergavenny for his charity and community work, providing the free sound system and disco at the annual Christmas light switch on as well as working to organise the traditional Firework Display, AM?Fest at Abergavenny?Castle and this week’s Santa Sleigh run, in his role as vice chairman of Abergavenny Round Table

With Christmas his busiest time of the year Matt is now faced with the prospect of having to borrow money to replace his missing equipment so he is able to honour the dozens of bookings he has between now and Christmas Eve,

“I’ve got children’s Christmas parties, functions at local hotels, a wedding and a Blues Brothers concert as well as other booking” said Matt

“Today (Wednesday) is my last free day until Christmas Eve so I’ve got to sort everything out so that I don’t let people down.

“I’d like to thank everyone on social media who have been sharing my post and sending supportive messages. I’ve also had a lot of other local DJs offering to help out by lending me equipment. The support I’ve had has been really heartwarming,” said Matt.

Among the equipment stolen was: A Lenovo laptop and external hard drive, two W Audio active 15" speakers with bags, two Chauvet Gigbar2 irc and stands, a Dap mixer case containing an American Audio and numark cd players, a high impact abs case containing a Gemini G2V controller, a bubble machine, a smoke machine, a snow machine, a box of leads and even a prize box containing sweets and small gifts used during children’s discos.

A spokesman for Gwent Police said, "At approximately 11.20pm last night, we received a report that a vehicle had been broken into in the car park of a hotel on Merthyr Road in Abergavenny.

"The break-in is thought to have happened between 9.45pm and 10.45pm and DJ equipment and a laptop with a combined value of approximately £4,000 was taken. If anyone has any information, please contact us on 101 quoting log 512 12/12/17.