Appeal to replace stolen laptops surpasses £10,000 target in just hours thanks to Patrick Bamford and Leeds United

Leeds Tech Angels launched its appeal via GoFundMe this morning (Thursday) with a target of raising £10,000 to go towards replacing 40 laptops that had been stolen from a business centre where they were being stored with the intention of being handed out to deprived children across Leeds who were struggling to school work online.

The project was established in December and had managed to acquire 100 laptops so far but were devastated when almost half of them were taken in the break-in earlier this week.

However, after spotting the appeal in the Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds United frontman, Patrick Bamford, stepped in offering to donate the shirt he wore during Monday night's 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace - which also saw him score the 100th goal of his career.

Within a couple of hours there had been more than 250 donations topping the £2000 mark. More recently there has been an anonymous donation of £6000 and as momentum continues, the appeal is now (at 5pm Thursday) just short of £12,000 with 670 donations.

Leeds United and chairman Andrea Radrizzani re-tweeted the player to their many thousands of followers

Ben Mckenna, who leads the Leeds Tech Angels project said he had gone from being "incredibly sad" to inspired.

He told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “The level of support we’ve received – financially and morally – in the few hours since the appeal was launched is awe-inspiring. We’re eternally grateful to Patrick Bamford and Leeds United for stepping in to help.

“The week began in such a magnificent way for the city with Patrick scoring his hundredth career goal and the club securing another three points. As the weekend approaches and thanks to their efforts, Leeds Tech Angels now has a lot to celebrate too.

“We have reached our initial target but hope that others will continue to give so generously. There are countless young people in Leeds who are suffering the consequences of the digital divide. We want to help as many of them as we can.”

It comes after the Leeds player last month donated £5,000 so the school can purchase 20 new iPads and loan them out to families.

Donate to the Leeds Tech Angels GoFundMe appeal here