Yahoo News Callous looters 'filled up bags' in Hanley charity shop raid
Raiders looted a city centre charity shop during a late-night break-in. The incident at one of the RSPCA's Hanley stores also forced the shop to stay shut for a couple of days.
Now volunteers have issued a plea for donations while police investigate the thefts at the Music, Movies and More branch. StokeonTrentLive previously reported how officers were called to the shop on October 30 after the break-in had been discovered.
The charity says the shop door was smashed open with a burglar swiping an iPad before 'returning several times later that morning'. Two other men were captured on CCTV going through the open door and filling up bags with vinyl records, DVD box sets, digital cameras, and portable radios worth around £700.
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Officials say the burglary took place between October 29 and 4am the following morning. It represents another blow after previous vandalism at the row of three RSPCA Fountain Square shops had previously cost the charity around £1,800 with damaged windows having to be replaced.
While the recent incident forced the shop to shut for a couple of days, volunteers used that time to give it a revamp.
Patrick Vasey, Staffordshire North branch manager, said: "We are really saddened to have been targeted like this. It was the last thing we needed and while the items are not high value they are still popular with our customers.
“As a charity we rely on our donations to help fund our care of animals in North Staffordshire so we would be enormously grateful to receive similar goods as new donations to make up the losses. We have found a replacement iPad temporarily but the other stolen items are a little more specialist and we would welcome anyone bringing similar products into us.
“We closed for a couple of days after the break-in, but it did allow us the time to have a refresh of our store lay-out. We have got three shops in close proximity to each other and they are very popular with shoppers in Stoke-on-Trent."
Anyone who can help with donations of items such as digital cameras, DVDs and vintage music on vinyl, cassette or CD should e-mail hanleyshopmanager@rspca-staffsnorth.org.uk. Meanwhile witnesses to the break-in should call Staffordshire Police and quote incident 200 of October 30.
