THIEVES who stole a life-saving piece of equipment have been branded "scumbags".
The newly installed Public Access Defibrillator (Pad), placed in a cabinet outside Rawlings and Kensett Butchers in High Street, Bookham, was discovered empty on January 6.
The equipment, which can deliver a shock to restart a heart in cardiac arrest, was funded by the Rotary Club of Bookham and Horsley with the legacy of Horsley pharmacist Bob King.
Mole Valley District Council member Paul Newman, owner of Ken Davey Butchers, said the act had left villagers and shopkeepers "incensed".
He said: "They are little scumbags the people who stole this defibrillator. Personally I would like to see the little sods hung up from the lampposts in the High Street.
"More than 1,400 of these Pads have been set up in villages around the country and this is the first one to ever be stolen. It is not the best representation of our village and we are not happy."
He added: "I don't know what they wished to gain; there is nothing they can do with it.
"You have to be a moron to put people's lives at risk like this for no reason.
"Their petty mindedness could be the difference between life and death."
The Pad was installed last year on the spot of an earlier unsuccessful resuscitation attempt.
Mr Newman and several other shopkeepers are now organising a raffle to fund a replacement Pad, and a temporary loan device has been provided by South East Coast Ambulance Service.
"It seems that every shop in the village has got behind this idea and is making a donation for the raffle," Mr Newman said.
"The chiropractors have donated a few treatments, the Indian restaurant has got on board, as has the linen press, the hairdressers and the Post Office.
Mr Newman added: "It is going to be a great lineup of prizes and I can guarantee that there will be something for everybody."
Tickets for the fundraising raffle are on now on sale in the majority of shops in the village, with a draw scheduled for the first week of February.
