Thieves broke into Phyllis Tuckwell’s charity shop in Ash on Friday night, stealing jewellery and causing hundreds of pounds’ worth of damage.

Staff at the shop discovered the break-in when they arrived to open up on Saturday morning. The perpetrators had kicked in the lower panel of the front door, causing significant damage, to allow themselves access to the shop. They had then targeted the till, prising open the draw and damaging the mechanism, but as all Phyllis Tuckwell shop tills are left empty overnight, no money was taken. They had attempted to open a locked draw underneath the till, causing more damage, and broken open two collection boxes which had been on the counter, stealing the contents. They also took jewellery and other items from a display case in the shop. The rear room had been turned over and all of the lockers in the staff room had been damaged as the thieves attempted to prise them open. All will now need replacing. 

“We are already experiencing a fall in our income as we are having to cancel lots of our fundraising events due to Coronavirus,” said Barry Young, Retail Operations Manager at Phyllis Tuckwell. “To now have had donated money stolen from us, and to then have to pay out to have our damaged property repaired, will impact our finances even further.”

If you have any information relating to this break-in, please contact Surrey police.