A callous thief grabbed a charity box from a Sutton coffee shop leaving children with special needs worse off.

Esquires Coffee Sutton, in St Nicholas Shopping Centre, reported the incident on March 7 after the pot, meant for charity Little Eden, went missing.

It is currently unknown who took it or what happened.

An Esquires Coffee staff member said: “We have a little charity box for the local charity Little Eden and basically, during the course of the afternoon, somebody has just literally taken it. Stolen it.

“We don’t know who, or what happened, it literally just disappeared over the course of the afternoon.”

There has been no luck in retrieving it since then.

Staff announced the theft on social media on March 8: "After our good news the other day we have some very upsetting news.

"Yesterday afternoon some ungrateful misguided decided to steal our charity box for Little Eden!"

Little Eden, based in Sutton, is a garden open to children with additional or special needs, with also includes a swimming pool and a support network for parents.