Cruel theft of shop’s charity boxes
Heartless thieves have broken in to a Sunderland shop and stolen the charity collection boxes and dumped the charity flowers in the bin.
Owner of Kemps Wool Shop, Barry Cuthbertson, was called late on Saturday night after thieves had broken into the Chester Road store.
They had made off with the charity boxes and children’s clothing.
The 62-year-old, who has owned the shop for more than 35 years, says he has been using the store’s lockdown closure to carry out maintenance work, such as painting.
Barry had left a small gap at the bottom so that he could still gain access to the store. The next night, he received a call to say the alarm was going off and he arrived to find four police cars outside.
Thieves had scrambled under the shutter and kicked the door in before making off with charity boxes and children’s clothing.
“It’s frustrating, but nobody was hurt – it’s just one of those things,” Barry said.
“The shop is closed because of everything that is going on and you can do without something like this happening at the best of times.”
Adding: “It won’t cost much to repair, but it’s the convenience more than anything.
“Everyone has enough to deal with at the moment.
“There are so many people that are going through a lot worse than this – this is nothing to that.”
His grandmother, Elizabeth Kemps, and mum, Margaret Cuthbertson, originally started making dresses from the front room of their house 73 years ago.
Mrs Cuthbertson, who is now 91, and her sister Dorothy Harding then converted what was once a family home into the Wool Shop.
A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “At 10.36pm on Saturday (May 2), we received a report of a burglary at Kemps Wool Shop on Chester Road, Sunderland.
“It was reported that offenders had gained access to the premises and stolen children’s clothing and a number of charity collection boxes, before making off.”
An investigation is ongoing and anyone with information should contact police via the website’s “Tell Us Something” page quoting log 1186 020520.