The shop on Bagshaw Road, Dovercourt, was targeted overnight between Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th January, with thieves gaining entry by smashing the glass panel on the front door. Discovered Wednesday morning by the shop manager, the aftermath revealed both the theft of jewellery and substantial damage, leaving a daunting repair bill for St Helena Hospice.  

This is the second break in at a St Helena charity shop in less than three months, causing loss of income to the local charity which relies heavily on their retail operation to raise the funds needed to provide its hospice services to people at home, at the Hospice and over the phone via their SinglePoint 24/7 helpline.  

Tim Morgan, retail area manager at St Helena, said:

“We are heartbroken to face yet another break in, so soon after our Coggeshall shop was targeted at the end of November. 

“This has caused more heartache to our community, along with additional bills to pay for repairs – money which would have been spent on supporting our patients and their families.

“Not only do we have the repair bill, but over £200 worth of jewellery was stolen that could have been sold to raise money. We also lost more than £300 in sales as we had to close the store for a period to clean up the mess.  

“Only 27% of our income comes from the NHS. That means 73% of the income needed to run St Helena is raised through the local community buying in St Helena shops, giving donations, playing Your Hospice Lottery, paying for care from Radfield Home Care in support of St Helena, and leaving gifts in Wills. 

“As always we are so grateful for the support shown to us by the local community and want to extend our appreciation to our shop managers and volunteers who, although distressed by the incident, are keeping the shop running as usual.” 

The shop is open Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm, and Sunday 10am to 4pm.  

St Helena is urging anyone who may have witnessed the break in or knows anything about the incident to contact Essex Police quoting reference number 421245424. 

Mr Morgan added:

“We are working closely with Essex Police and are grateful for their support with this matter. If you know anything about the incident, please do get in touch with them. 

“If you work for or know of a local company who would be able to offer their services to assist with fixing the damage caused, we would really appreciate the help.” 

Donations towards repairing the shop damage and the loss of funds would be very welcome to support St Helena.