A preschool community has criticised a court sentence for a burglar who allegedly broke into their premises more than 12 times.

A representative of Tree Tops II Preschool community said Police have told them the man has admitted several burglaries in court but was only given a year's suspended sentence.

Since last July, the school at St. Anne's Church Hall in Southampton has been continuously ransacked. The offender has not only broken catches on windows but even unscrewed a door panel to gain access, forcing the church to install a burglar alarm.

Last night a spokeswoman for teachers and parents said: "The school has been left out of pocket by thousands of dollars but there doesn't seem to be any real punishment for this criminal.

"If you don't punish someone for burglary, what is to stop him from doing it again? He's just had a slap on the wrist."

She said: "We are all upset, angry and frustrated. When the Police have come in we've had to explain to the children who they are and why they are doing finger-printing.

"It has been very stressful. No one can believe that someone would break into a church building or a preschool."

Tree Tops II teaches around 45 children, aged between two and four.

The break-ins started one weekend last July when the burglar took all the school's Summer Programme supplies. The items stolen included paddling pools, ice pops, ice cream, juice and snacks, as well as large quantities of paper and cleaning products.

The woman said: "Between July and November we were then regularly broken into, more than a dozen times. Each time the Police were called in and then the Forensic Team, and then we would have to clean up again.

"Each time we would secure the point of entry, repair the damage and replace the items stolen, costing the school well into the thousands of dollars."

She said: "After each break-in we became more and more frustrated that it had happened again."

One week the school got broken into three times on September 28, 29 and 30.

The woman said: "In December we finally received the call we'd all been waiting for, that the burglar had been arrested using fingerprint evidence. We all breathed a sigh of relief that we were safe at last.

"Then the Police told us that when the burglar appeared in court, he pleaded guilty to several burglaries, including at the Swizzle Inn and Fourways Inn. But even though this man has a criminal record he was only given a year's suspended sentence and was set free."

She said: "We are thoroughly frustrated. We have gone through months of mental anguish, cleaning up and expense, and all for nothing it seems.

"What we all want to know is where is the justice?"