Children in Glasgow helped cops arrest the ‘Grinch’, days after their nursery was broken in to. The Ivy in the Park nursery in Carntyne was broken into on Sunday, December 8, as someone kicked in internal doors and left with an iPad, reports Glasgow Live.
However the nursery’s caretaker Paul McGrath, 50, hatched a plan alongside community police officers “to give the children a bit of closure”. The children were told the Grinch had visited the nursery after they noticed the boarded-up glass door.
On Wednesday, December 19, dad-of-five Paul dressed up as the Dr Seuss Christmas character and was ‘arrested’ by local cops and the young children, all dressed as police officers. The Grinch was herded into the back of a police van, and the children took his bag, which was filled with chocolate donated by local police officers.
Annefrances McGrath, Operations Director at Ivy in the Park and Paul’s spouse, said: “The children were so excited. It was almost as though they got to steal something back from the Grinch.
“It’s important that the children feel their space hasn’t been violated and that this will always be their safe space. Before we finish on Friday for Christmas, we want them to have some closure on it and feel a wee bit empowered that they’ve actually caught the Grinch themselves.
That was what drew their attention to it. We came up with the story of the Grinch, because it’s so close to Christmas. We told them the Grinch must have visited our nursery, and not to worry, that the kids would catch the Grinch.”
Following the break-in, staff at the nursery took part in a clean-up operation as joiners and glaziers worked to ensure the nursery would be able to open for the children the next morning. However glass for the door had to be made specially with the door the boarded-up for the time being.
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