A mystery benefactor has given a major boost to victims of crime with the biggest-ever individual donation to be made in Bradford.

Victim Support workers were astonished when they opened a plain envelope to find a £1,000 contribution from an anonymous well-wisher.

The money could pay for the recruitment of another volunteer worker to help more victims of crime in the district.

Pat White, deputy manager of Victim Support Bradford, said the Charity Aid Foundation voucher arrived in the post with no covering letter and no indication who it was from.

She said: "There is no name on it and the signature is unreadable, but it could be from someone at the charity anyway.

"We have absolutely no way of finding out who the donation is from.

"We respect this person wanting to remain anonymous, but we just want them to know how gratefully this has been received and how wisely it will be used."

Mrs White said it was likely the donation was from someone who had used the Victim Support service.

But she added: "It could be just a generous citizen who is aware of the work we have done."

Mrs White said the donation was the largest they had received since Victim Support started in Bradford in 1984.

She declared: "It is out of the ordinary. Usually we get token donations, like £5 or £1. We were gobsmacked when it arrived.

"It is a thrill to think that someone has thought enough and cared enough about the service to make such a large donation. It's very touching, and endorses the work that we do."

Mrs White said the service had not yet thought about how it would use the money.

She said: "Some of it may be used for recruitment and some for training new volunteers to keep on providing the service we already do and to stretch it even further. It may fund outreach work for surgeries across the district so people can access Victim Support more easily.

"If it covered the recruitment and training of even one more volunteer it would make a huge difference to the number of people we could see.

"It also makes a difference to staff. It's the feel-good factor that someone feels it is appropriate to make a donation like that."