Charity shops robbed and ransacked – What sort of person would do this?

TWO charity shops in Melksham have been targeted by thieves who stole hundreds of pounds and donated items.

Staff and volunteers at Wiltshire Mind and Dorothy House have been left saddened and shaken up after finding the shops had been robbed when they came to open on Monday morning.

Manager at Wiltshire Mind, Bev Harris said,  “When I approached the shop I realised the door was open and it was damaged. We share a front door entrance so I thought Liz from Dorothy House had already opened and  was perhaps having some work done by a carpenter, but when I walked inside  it was clear we have been broken in to.

“The locks were on the floor and the shop was a mess. I went into the office and found  the place had been ransacked. I went next door and they had also been burgled. They completely ransacked the place, turning everything upside down. They took the safe which had the weekend’s takings in it, they took the charity box and money I had collected from a raffle. They emptied several bags of clothes that had been donated. I think they must have used the bags to take what they had stolen from Dorothy House. Their bags are branded whereas ours are bright blue.

“I’m heartbroken. What sort of a person would do this? Robbing any shop is terrible but a charity shop is disgusting. We are totally unfunded so we will have to pay to fix all the damage out of our own funds, funds which should be going to help the community.

“Someone has told me that they walked past the shop several times on Sunday and everything looked fine, so we think it happened on Sunday night.”

Chief Executive at Wiltshire Mind Carolyn Beale said, “It is so sad that we have been subjected to a break in.  Not only was the safe taken and its contents but we are not able to open today, losing further money.

“We are a small local charity and rely on the money generated from the shop to help support the work we do in the local community; we are totally unfunded and need every penny to continue our much needed work in Wiltshire.”

Shop manager, Liz Holland, said, “This has been a shock to everybody. I feel quite shaken up. A lot of passers-by and customers have said how dreadful this is, stealing from charity shops. We’ve had a lot of support though, from the public and other shops.

“They left a mess. Clothes were piled up on the floor – men’s clothes mostly – like they were going to be taken. The office was ransacked.”

The break-ins in Melksham were among several across the area on Sunday night, including another Dorothy House shop.

Dorothy House Hospice Care Head of Communications, Jenny Steele, said, “We’re incredibly proud of our shop teams who worked brilliantly on the clean-up after the break-ins. This is a sad situation to discover on a Monday morning, but the retail teams in both shops have shown incredible resilience and teamwork as they rally together to reopen the shops and be the face of the hospice in our community.”