Charities left counting the cost of thefts in town centre

Peter Laird and Anne Dransfield from Oxfam in Mirfield, who were left devastated by a burglary last week.

A charity shop has been burgled and trashed, and collection boxes have been swiped from two shop counters.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the Mayor of Mirfield Coun David Pinder urged councillors: “We are not living in a peaceful laguna, so let’s all be vigilant.”

Staff at Oxfam Homeware in Foldhead Mills were devastated when they found their shop had been robbed.

Burglars broke a door in and rifled through jewellery cabinets, stealing watches, clothing and a rucksack.

They trashed the shop before leaving with the items which would have sold for around £200 altogether.

Manager Peter Laird said: “It’s devastating. We put so much time and trouble into the shop and they come and destroy it.

“They are despicable. They have no morals at all.”

Oxfam was targeted overnight last Monday, April 15, a few days after a collection box was taken from Jackson’s Shoes.

The box was found in the toilets of a nearby betting shop, empty of the cash that had been collected for a blind charity.

Andrew Jackson, from the shop in Huddersfield Road, said: “The first we knew was when the lady from the betting shop called.

“People will take anything. It doesn’t matter what it is.”

A second charity collection box was discovered to be missing from Ramsdens Butchers in Huddersfield Road on Friday.

It was for the town mayor’s chosen charities – Combat Stress, Yorkshire Cancer Research and the Friends of St Mary’s Church.

Butcher Chris Ramsden said he only realised the box was gone when Coun Pinder arrived to collect it.

“It was the only one we didn’t have chained down,” Mr Ramsden said.

“We have got to chain them down because it doesn’t take them two minutes to steal them.”