Charity boxes and credit cards stolen from Dry Clean Plus, Bargate, Newark, during ‘upsetting’ break-in

Burglars who ransacked a Newark dry cleaners and stole charity boxes have been branded as ‘heartless’ by the business owner.

Dry Clean Plus, on Bar Gate, was broken into by thieves overnight on November 20 to 21, who damaged the front door to enter the premises where two credit cards from a lock box, £30 in cash from the till, and £183 in charity donations were taken.

Owner Antony Pollard described the incident as “really upsetting”, and added: “They ransacked the shop and most disgusting of all, emptied and stole the charity boxes that were nearly full after being filled by my lovely customers throughout the year.

“My main anger is the fact they stole the charity money, one which was for Beaumond House who were so good to myself and my mum when my dad passed away a few years ago. The work they do for people suffering from illness and the support they give families is just incredible.

“For the thieves to take their money is not only disgusting, but completely and utterly heartless and they should be ashamed of themselves.”

He has gathered CCTV evidence which has been passed on to the police in the hopes of seeing those responsible — who are believed to have put the change through cash counting machines at Morrisons and Asda as well as using the stolen cards in those stores — brought to justice.

As Antony expects the charity money is most likely not covered by his insurance, he also plans to make up the stolen funds himself.

He added: “I don’t want to deprive them, it’s not the charities’ fault.

“They inexplicably left £150 which had been waiting to be banked, they obviously went in and just grabbed the charity pots.

“All of the footage has been handed over to the police who will hopefully recognise the culprits and bring them to justice.”

A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said: “We’re in the process of investigating a reported break-in at a store in Bar Gate, Newark.

“A door was damaged to gain entry to the shop, at some point between 3pm on November 20, and 8am on November 21.

“Cash was taken from the till during the incident, while a charity box was also stolen by intruders.

“Clearly this is completely unacceptable, and we’re determined to find whoever was responsible as quickly as possible.

“As part of this, we’d ask anyone who has any information about what happened to please get in touch with us so that we can take action.

“Information can be left by calling the police on 101, quoting incident 125 of November 21, 2024, or by contacting Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

It is not the first time the independent dry cleaners has been the victim of crime, having suffered an attempted break-in around four years ago, and an incident of vandalism a year prior, in 2019.

Antony added: “It’s so annoying to have this happen yet again.”