Yobs raid sports club

In addition to a trail of destruction, the intruders rifled charity collecting boxes which included money to send a child cancer victim to America for treatment.

But the foursome - three teenage boys and a girl - also left something more useful. Police are currently studying images of the raiders from the club CCTV system.

PC Dave Sands of the Bexhill Neighbourhood Policing Team described the break-in overnight on Saturday as "a very distasteful burglary."

"The intruders entered the building via a side window. Once inside, they caused extensive damage to interior doors and made their way through different rooms in the building.

"The burglars damaged vending machines, stealing the money from them and also the cash tills which were abandoned on the Down opposite the club - minus the money that had been inside."

PC Sands said: "What I found absolutely disgusting about this particular offence is that these heartless offenders not only took the money collected for Poppy Appeal and Macmillan Nurses but also money from a bottle clearly marked as an appeal for a two year-old child suffering from terminal cancer."

PC Sands is appealing for anyone with information about the raid to contact him at Bexhill police station on 0845 6070999.

The Back Room Boys from the Sports Centre's Famous Atha bar were plunged into despondency only days after celebrating the 3,500 success of their dinner boxing show on behalf of the West Hill Boys' Club at Hastings.