THIEVES who broke into two charity shops in Evesham town centre at the weekend have been condemned as "cowards".

They stole donation boxes from the British Heart Foundation, in Bridge Street, and Oxfam in High Street in two separate incidents, making off with no more than £15 in all. In both instances the boxes were chained to part of the counter.

Oxfam shop manager Julie Bridgewater, whose premises were targetted on Friday night, said: "It was the mess they left behind and the damage they caused which were the biggest problem.

"We had to call someone out in the middle of the night to make the door secure and that's going to cost a few hundred pounds.

"We never keep any cash here overnight so there was only pennies in the box. We never put notes in there for obvious reasons."

Ms Bridgewater praised members of her staff Sally Aldous and Julie Archer, who had to task of tidying up on Saturday morning.

"I didn't come in until later and they had done everything and opened as usual which was fantastic."

The British Heart Foundation shop was broken into between 6pm on Saturday and 9am Monday. Manager Carolyn Webster said: "The amount of effort taken to tidy up, our time and police time, made it hardly worthwhile for them. They would have got £5 if that.

"They are so sad that they have to create that much damage for a very little amount of money."

Evesham beat manager PC Paul Adams said: "It's a sad day when you have got to chain charity boxes to the counter.

"These are cowardly offences committed by cowardly individuals. I'm sure that there were people out on the streets after being out for a nice drink and they may have seen something."

Anyone with information should call PC Adams on 08457 444888 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.