SNEAK thieves crept into a charity shop and stole money from volunteers' wallets.

Cash totalling £40 was taken from the wallets, which were in a back room at the St Richard's Hospice charity shop.

An elderly volunteer is still too shaken to talk about what happened.

Catherine Badham, 42, manager of the shop n Upton-Upon-Severn, and also a victim of the theft, said: “I feel violated. How could someone stoop so low as to steal at a charity shop, which is raising money for a community cause - I would hate to have their life.

“We don’t want to be a victim of crime and we will continue to raise funds for the hospice.

“Upton is a great area and we’ve had members of the public stopping by to see how we’re doing, offered cakes.”

PC Kevin Johns, from the Upton Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “We responded to what was described at two males of Eastern European origin, that had accessed an unwatched staffroom from the rear of the building.

“We are determined to catch them.

“My advice would be for staff to secure their spaces, with keys kept on their persons at all times, and to make sure unwatched areas are secured from potential thieves.”

A spokesman for St Richard’s Hospice, Dan Corns, 54, said: “This incident is unnerving for our volunteers and it can impact on people coming forward to volunteer their time.”

If anyone has information on the incident, which happened on on Monday, June 3 at around 3.30pm, the police can be contacted on 101, quoting Incident Number: 0417S030619

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