THIEVES ransacked a charity shop and stole more than £8,000 worth of equipment, donations and the store's CCTV system.

Now a fundraising page has been set up in order to help Buddy's for Children with Autism replace their much needed funds.

Horrified charity workers and their supporters have been busy clearing up the damage after discovering the damage at the shop on Monday last week.

Burglars wrecked the interior, taking anything of value including iPads and donations and to avoid detection they even snatched the shop's CCTV hard drive.

Jane Lord, aged 53, who runs Buddy's for Children with Autism, said: “I came in at about 1.30pm to do some paperwork like I always do on a Monday and everything in the shop was just ruined.

"You just don’t expect it with being a charity, you try your best to help people and then all this happens.”

The Bury-based charity offers help and support to young people on the autistic spectrum, their parents, carers and siblings and opened their shop two years ago.

“We try to help everyone we can, not just people with autism.” said Jane.

“We help homeless people, or anyone who needs help in any way, this is a safe place for people to feel welcome."

Jane said that after the incident, she considered “throwing in the towel”, however the many responses via social media have lifted her spirits.

“I’m still a bit shook up, I’m still nervous about whether they’ll come back, I’m feeling a lot of anxiety” she said, “We’ve had lots of comments on Facebook, we’ve had volunteers coming in to help get the shop back together. It made me realise how many people we help, I didn’t realise that many people cared.”

Jane says it took more than seven hours for volunteers to restore the shop to its original state.

A Go Fund Me page has been launched in an attempt to rebuild funds. The fundraising page is at gofundme.com/help-buddys-after-brake-in.

“My daughter has set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money for things that were stolen, it’s just great how the community has come together.”

A police spokesperson said: “Unknown offenders forced their way into a property through a back door. They deactivated CCTV. A quantity of cash was taken including charity donation boxes.”

Anyone with any information can call police on 101 quoting incident number 858 of 15 January 2018.