Cafe owner Rachel Allen is disgusted after thieves took a charity box while raiding her Trowbridge premises at the weekend.

When arrived at Paxcroft Cafe in Devizes Road, first thing on Saturday she found a window had been smashed, scattering glass across the room.

Thieves had stolen bacon, bread, chocolate bars and cigarette papers, as well as the relatively small amounts of cash in a tips box and a collection box for Caring Matters Now.

Miss Allen, whose cafe won a Britain’s Best Builders’ Breakfast award in March, branded the theft a disgrace.

She said: “They took all my bacon and bread and my carrier bags, to carry it all I suppose. Perhaps they were planning to make some bacon sandwiches.

“If someone was starving, it might not be so bad, but to take the charity box is disgusting and disgraceful.

“It made me feel violated. How can someone do something like that? A lot of my customers have put their change in that box, thinking it would go to a good cause.

“It would be nice if these thieves could return the contents of the box, so it can go where it was intended.”

Miss Allen said broken window glass was scattered throughout her cafe.

She said: “It took a lot of cleaning up. I can’t understand why they would go to so much effort and cause so much damage for so little.

“I’m lucky because there are a lot of people who keep an eye on my cafe when I am not there. But I have learned my lesson. I’m not leaving anything in here overnight.”

Caring Matters Now supports families of children with congenital melanocytic naevus, which can lead to cancer and neurological issues.

Thieves are thought to have struck between 2am and 3am