Generous shoppers have dug deep to help a charity shop targeted by burglars, with the amount stolen already surpassed in donations.

“Dastardly” thieves rip-ped a safe from the wall of a Save the Children store in Cheam during a raid overnight between March 19 and March 20 Throwing a brick through the window of the Broadway shop, the raiders left a trail of destruction for distraught workers to find the next morning, Ray Kasey, 86, is the chairman of the local group and has been with the charity for 48 years.

He said that throughout his time there he had “never seen anything quite like this”.

Since the burglary the community has rallied around the store with donations helping to cover the cash loss.

Mr Kasey said: “We’ve had the odd problem in the shop before but nothing quite like this.

“A brick was thrown through the windows at the back of the shop.

“They were new double-glazed windows, which I thought were pretty strong.

“They came in through the back window and into our sorting room. Then they ripped the safe off the wall.

“It had about £100 in it.

“We don’t keep money in the store overnight, that was just the float for the till.

“Thankfully they didn’t manage to get into the main shopping area.

“One of the staff members came in the morning after and saw what had happened. She was in shock and it took her a while to come round.

“The day after we had to close the shop for the whole day because of all the clearing up.”

That 24-hour closure only added to the loss, as the store was unable to raise money for the charity that runs under the slogan “no child left to die”.

Mr Kasey said: “We had a notice up in the window saying: ‘Oh dear, we have been burgled. Please come in and cheer us up” and since then we’ve had about £100 in donations alone.”

He added: “This was a dastardly and despicable attack on a shop staffed exclusively by volunteers who are raising funds for one of the world’s leading children’s charities, which is currently playing a major part in successfully dealing with the ebola disease.”

A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police said they were called out the store to find the raiders had carried out “an untidy search of the premises”.

When the officers went into the back room they saw the safe, which had been previously screwed to the wall, was lying open on a chair. The contents had been removed.

Anyone with information about the burglary can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.