A THIEF who broke into a town centre charity shop left a trail of blood behind her.

Hyndburn Stray Dogs in Need, which is based on Whalley Road in Accrington, was broken into late on Thursday night.

CCTV captured from outside the shop shows a woman using a large rock to break the shopfront’s glass window before she got on her hands and knees to crawl into the premises.

Stephen Wood, a volunteer at the charity, said that the clean-up and repairs would cost the charity around £1,000.

He said: “The mess was really quite significant and there was blood everywhere, they quite obviously had bad injuries.

“But that didn’t seem to stop them as they got to the till and managed to take the money which we had inside for the float.”

Mr Wood said that they were told of the break-in last night and had to pay £200 for the window to be boarded up. The police were called and an investigation is under way.

But the cost of replacing the broken window will set the charity back an extra £600, plus the installation fee.

Mr Wood said: “All-in-all we are looking at around £1,000 for repairs, but she only took about £20 from inside the shop.

“It’s not only devastating for the charity but for all of the people who support us too.

“Not only has this person stolen and caused us damage, but they’ve stolen from the general public as they are who we get all of our funding from.

“We are a small charity trying to help dogs in need, it is very disappointing.”

This latest break-in comes just weeks after calls to allow shops in Accrington to install shutters to protect their businesses were rubbished by the council.

Speaking at a Hyndburn Borough Council's meeting in October, leader Cllr Miles Parkinson said he wouldn’t want the town centre to look like an ‘inner-city Toxteth’, instead saying that the council would work with police to tackle the problem of break-ins in the area.

When told about the latest break-in, Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said: “The people who are breaking in to these buildings don’t care about the consequences."

Anybody with information can contact the police on 101, quoting reference number LC-20181001-1670.