Troublesome skinny dippers sink school funds

Three men who cut through a Hamilton school's fence to swim starkers in the middle of the night are being sought by police.

The men made holes in Te Rapa School's wire fence to gain access to the cool water during the January school holidays.

The school's security camera only snapped one photo of the culprits splashing about at 1am, but the damage left in the fence each time shows there have been multiple midnight dips.

Waikato Police constable Mark Soffe said it appeared to be local Hamilton ratbags.

The school thought it was probably the same culprits taking a midnight skinny dip, but could not be sure.

"The main problem is they've cut the fence to get in. And every time they've cut the fence it's in a new place as well. So there's obviously considerable expense to the school to fix it and it's funnelling money away from the kids and where it should be being spent."

The school caretaker had patched the fence up, but it was in now such a bad state all the wire meshing needed to be repaired.

"They've gone about once a week for a time over the school holidays."

Soffe urged people to get in touch if they recognised either of the men.

The school did not want to press charges, but wanted police to speak to them and let them know how their actions had affected the school.

"They just want them not to come back rather than have any criminal charges laid against them. They are not out for a pound of flesh."

Police had spoken to the school's neighbours but they had not seen the midnight swimmers.

Soffe was unaware of any instances in Hamilton where people had unlawfully accessed a swimming pool, but a Northland school faced similar issues.

Whau Valley School principal Steve Jenkins told NZME last week people cutting holes or climbing over fences to access the pool in recent years had resulted in the school having to replace pool covers and security cameras which cost about $700 each.