A charity shop in Bradford city centre is having to divert funds from helping those in need to pay for damage caused by burglars.

The Marie Curie Cancer shop on Ivegate has been broken into three times in the past 12 months.

And the money to cover the latest lot of repairs from the break-in will have to come from the money that the shop makes to help cancer patients.

Bridgette Markley, relief manager for the shop, explained in the latest incident the burglars not only took money but also caused a great deal of damage.

"They broke in through the back of the shop and just tipped everything onto the floor. They just made a mess," said Mrs Markley.

She told the Telegraph & Argus that she had been informed that the burglars were thought to be young people.

"I can't understand in the first place how they get in. This last time they go onto the roof and managed to get in through a door which comes into our work room."

Mrs Markley said that everyone who worked at the shop was very security conscious.

"We lock everything, we bolt all the doors. But this last time they pushed the door in where the bolt was pulled across. They just find a way round."

Because of the high excess for insurance, much of the money needed to make repairs to the shop will have to come from the money that would otherwise go straight to pay for nurses at The Marie Curie Hospice on Maudsley Street.

"It just makes me so angry especially as we work hard to get the money in. The money we make goes to help fund the nurses at the local hospice. That's the people they are really depriving of the money," said Mrs Markley.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said businesses should remove goods from shop fronts at night which could sometimes attract burglars. As well as installing grilles and shutters which can deter would-be burglars.

More more information about

the advice from West Yorkshire Police

for businesses about how to protect property can be found at www.westyorkshire.police.uk