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Burglars in charity shop raid
The British Heart Foundation charity shop on Standishgate
CALLOUS thieves who ransacked offices at a Wigan charity shop causing thousands of pounds worth of damage are being hunted by police.
Staff arrived at the British Heart Foundation shop on Standishgate to find the shop had been burgled overnight.
The offenders had forced open the door shutters, smashed their way into the premises and attempted to steal the safe.
Unable to remove it, the offenders left after ripping if off the wall causing a huge hole. They also smashed up work surfaces in the shop as well as workers’ lockers.
While around just £50 in cash was stolen, the British Heart Foundation in Wigan now faces a huge bill of thousands of pounds to repair the damage caused between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
Assistant manager Pauline Smith said: “I felt physically sick when I came into work this morning.
“To break into somewhere is a horrible thing to do anyway but to burgle a charity shop is just low, it’s like breaking into somebody’s house.
“There wasn’t much money for them to take but they stole the shop float and the lottery money from my locker.
“We just can’t believe how much damage has been caused for such a small return and we are really appealing to anybody who may know anything to call the police to try to catch these people – someone must know who they are.
“We are also short of volunteers and so any help during this difficult time would be really appreciated.
“We don’t understand why we were targeted, we seem to be the only shop in the area that was burgled on this particular night – but it’s not as if a charity shop has a lot of money to steal though.”
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We received reports of a burglary at the British Heart Foundation shop on Standishgate.
“The incident is believed to have happened any time between 5.30pm on Saturday and 9am on Sunday.
“Inquiries are ongoing and police are appealing for any witnesses who may have information to call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
Any volunteers should call into the shop or call 01942 820155.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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Comments
There are 8 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Workerbee
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 10:45 PMInbred scum! If they are found will probably claim that it was there childhood up bringing that made them rob a charity shop, and ask for legal aid in defending them and get at maximum a suspended sentence as for central watch dont they operate until 4am ?
kenhas505
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 10:15 PMTIME TO BRING BACK THE BIRCH...
Wandering Wiganer
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 06:38 PMLook out for anyone selling a large quantity of VHS cassettes and retro football shirts. Seriously, though, we are looking for unintelligent cowards who could not work out that a charity shop would not be carrying much money. Lowlifes on so many levels.
Ray Ashton
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 02:01 PMNot saying much for the thousands spent and still being spent on CCTV and staff to monitor the screens. More than likely they were switched off to save money .
TeaForTwo
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 01:41 PMAbsolutely awaful! Agree with Cowboy though, the shop should be covered on at least one of the many cameras in the town centre Though in my experience Central Watch (if they're even still called that) were not exactly brilliant when I had to deal wth them.....
cowboy
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 10:31 AMi thought wigan town centre was full with CCTV, were was the operators when this was happening
MicrowaveMan
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 10:28 AMI bet they were ugly!
Mr Good Guy
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 10:21 AMscumbags,were does it end
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