Theft from charity

Volunteers at the Worthing and Animal Rescue Service (WADARS) charity shop in West Buildings were devastated when they discovered a thief had walked into the open shop on Thursday afternoon and taken two weeks' worth of takings from the safe under the till.

Unfortunately, the key had been accidentally left in the safe. Billy Elliott, a WADARS rescue officer, said: "We are all terribly upset by what has happened and it just goes to show there are some people who must go around looking for opportunities like these.

"When a large sum of money goes missing like this, it has a deflating effect on everyone. So many people worked hard to raise this money and it was gone in seconds. August was a very busy month for us and our vet bills alone came to 7,000!"

On Thursday afternoon, the key was accidentally left in the safe door after a charity box was taken out. Some time between 3pm and 4pm, a customer asked for help at the back of the shop.

A few minutes later, the volunteer walked back to the till and noticed 350 in cash and 150-worth of cheques were missing '“ she did not hear or see a thing.

Billy said: "It was very unusual for us to keep such a large sum of money in the safe.It was a shock and you tend to go through different emotions, but in a way it is much better the volunteer did not see what happened and was not threatened.

"We are now reviewing our system and we will be moving the safe."

If anyone would like to make a donation to help WADARS, please telephone the shop on 01903 205237.