A thief has snatched a charity collection set up in memory of a brave cancer victim.

Bubbly Jackie Bentley took the part of a bride in a fashion show for the cancer support group Bosom Friends just two weeks before she died.

Jackie, 39, of Enfield Drive, Baildon, had to be accompanied by a doctor and nurses to the event at the Hilton Hotel in Bradford.

She had suffered months of punishing chemotherapy and was receiving drugs from a bag attached to her throughout the show.

Today her family and friends hit out at the thief who snatched the bottle containing about £300 from her local, the Cricketers Arms in Baildon.

Her former partner, builder Malcolm Ford-Crook, said: "I think it is absolutely disgusting. I don't know who could do a thing like that.

"I don't think it was a regular because everyone knew Jackie. But it was obvious what the collection was for. It beggars belief."

He said that Jackie - a presser for 18 years at Praxis Tailoring, Saltaire - was positive throughout her illness, but died just months after being given the all-clear then suffering a relapse.

"She became a friend and second nurse to many people who were terminally sick, in spite of being so ill herself," he said.

Pub landlady Sheila Noble appealed for a whisky gallon bottle to resume the collection started after Jackie's death.

She added: "I hope we can give the collection a boost and make up the money we have lost.

"Everyone was distraught when Jackie died and people are very distressed that this has happened."

Jackie Harrison, vice chairman of Bosom Friends, said: "I think it is absolutely disgusting.

"I was with Jackie when she was on the catwalk.

"She was so ill she couldn't even dress herself. But she was brilliant. I laughed and cried that day."

John Partington, chairman of Bosom Friends, added: "I am saddened and appalled this has happened, especially when it was in memory of someone who died so young."

e-mail: olwen.vasey-

@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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