Cancer Research shop burglary. Pic: Frances Rankin
A Cancer Research UK charity shop in Lewisham was burgled after they sent out a tweet showing £1500 cash raised from fundraising.
Staff and volunteers from Cancer Research UK, spent 8 hours standing outside London Bridge station raising money on World Cancer Day on February 4.
Thank you London! What an amazingly generous city you are! pic.twitter.com/QMOhRFAYC5
— CRUK Lewisham Shop (@CRUKLewisham) February 4, 2016
They sent out a ‘thank you’ tweet with a photo showing the £1500 cash that they had raised. On February 7, staff came in to the shop to see that it had been broken into.
Assistant Manager, Hayley Thorpe, 31, said: “They must have gained access via the back door. The front of the shop was fine, all the damage was through the back door and the connecting door to our upstairs.”
The burglar had clearly been looking for the money and had broken into lockers and one safe.
“It’s a shame, but thankfully they didn’t get the money we raised for World Cancer Day as that had already been banked.”
Despite not losing the money they raised, the charity shop still lost three days worth of trade resulting in a loss of almost £2000. The shop also needed maintenance work to get back to normal and is now back up and trading again.
There is no video footage of the robbery as the burglar destroyed the shop’s CCTV.
Thorpe said: “It would’ve been heartbreaking if they had got the money raised. We worked really hard for that and it’s horrible to think that someone would target a charity.”
“It’s sad because we clearly can’t write on our social media pages about our fundraising efforts anymore because that’s what has caused this.”
