Greenwich Council has offered to build a new and secure chicken coop for a primary school left "devastated" after repeated thefts.

Summer of 2016 was when chickens were first stolen from Thorntree Primary School in Charlton.

One year later the children's hearts were broken again as their beloved chickens - Henwick and Midnight - were taken.

Administrator Annie Bowditch said: "It is shocking that someone would go to these lengths for the second time to deprive children for the sake of a cheap profit."

Headteacher Ann Marie Walker added: "The chickens going missing have left the children feeling bewildered. The Year 6 children in particular take their jobs of looking after the coop, feeding them and collecting their eggs very seriously."

However, the school says a more secure chicken coop will be built during the Easter holidays thanks to a Greenwich Council intervention.

Despite the good news, the school is still wary of being targeted for a third time.

A spokeswoman said: "We were very hesitant to reintroduce chickens to the school. The risk of having them stolen a third time and causing the children further emotional distress was too high.

"Besides that, with a slashed budget we need to be careful how we prioritise our resources. We were delighted when the council offered to help."

We were initially told the school had successfully bid for funding from the council for a new coop.

We have since been informed this wasn't the case, and that no monetary offer was made or financial aid given. The council will instead be providing "expertise and physical help".

Annie Bowditch said: "The council will be here working on another project and are giving their time, labour and expertise for free.

"We have a coop already in place but just wanted help to make it slightly more secure and look neater than it currently does."