CONCERNS continue over the disappearance of a stolen piece of medical equipment containing lethal radiation.

Police have renewed their appeal for information concerning the whereabouts of the organ monitoring equipment after experts yesterday confirmed it contains gamma radiation.

So far officers have drawn a blank over the theft of the £5,000 BLA printer from a doctor's car in West End.

The machine, which is rarely used in the UK, looks like a harmless computerised till, but once tampered with, it will contaminate anyone who touches it with leaking radiation. Pregnant women and their unborn children are thought to be at the greatest health risk.

The monitor was taken sometime during last Friday night or early Saturday morning, from a green Renault Clio parked in Wessex Way.

Police have warned anyone who has the machine, or who finds it dumped, to stay away from it and contact them immediately.

But so far there have not been any leads as to where the monitor, used to take readings of patients' major organs, could now be.

It is described as white, 18 inches by 12 inches, with a slit that looks as if a paper receipt will come out of it.

Anyone with any knowledge of the theft or who finds the machine should contact Hedge End police on 0845 045 45 45.