Sneak thief snatches £2,000 charity cash

A CALLOUS thief stole £2,000 of charity money raised in memory of a cancer victim and destined for Dr Kershaw’s Hospice.

The crook sneaked into a house in Moorside at 1.30pm on Wednesday, while the occupant was in the bath, and snatched the cash.

It was raised from an American fun day held in July at Oldham Rugby Club in aid of the Royton hospice.

It was organised by a group of individuals and the rugby club as part of a series of events in memory of Alan Cook, who spent time at the hospice before he died from cancer.

The burglary victim had counted up most of the money and put it in an envelope in a large crisp box that also contained five empty collection tins and one full one containing £180 in coins.

He had been waiting for another donation to come in before handing over the money to the charity.

But the thief jumped over a high back wall and sneaked into the house and stole a laptop, an iPod docking station and took the box containing the money and tins, which are numbered and have “Dr Kershaw’s” written on them.

The victim said: “I’m devastated. They have hit the jackpot. I’m not bothered about the other items, much more important is the charity money which represents time and effort put in by people.

“Alan was a friend who spent time at Dr Kershaw’s and they were very good to him so we decided to raise some money for them.

“I want people to be aware that there are some cash boxes missing and if they find these things lying around they need to tell the police as they could provide evidence. I want them to capture them.”

He now plans to install a CCTV security system.

The house next door was also broken into around the same time, with £750, a gold ring and a DVD camera taken.

Anyone who witnessed anything or has any information is asked to ring the police on 0161 872-5050.