MONEY donated to the Poppy Appeal and a charity which supports people with a neurological disorder has been stolen from a village pub by despicable thieves.

Linda Macallum said she was “absolutely blazing” after two masked burglars stole from Poppy Appeal and MND Association tins at her Jolly Drovers pub in Hill Brow.

The culprits are also being linked to a similar burglary at Rake Garden Centre as keys and two charity collection boxes were stolen around the same time.

Linda said the “shameful” culprits turned a blind eye to an iPad, takings and stock after breaking into the Jolly Drovers around 4.50am on Monday, November 6.

Instead they focused on the charity money while also stealing multiple packs of bacon and gammon joints.

Linda said: “They took the takings from the Poppy Appeal box and the Motor Neurone Disease Association box - I would rather they had taken the stock.

“There was quite a bit of money in those pots. It’s shameful and I was absolutely blazing when I found out.”

Drinkers who learned of the burglary the following afternoon did their bit by donating generously to the two good causes.

But that doesn’t make a wrong a right with Linda adamant that someone must have seen the burglary.

She said: “They did this at ten to five in the morning, at a time when people are starting to go out and about, so I would have thought someone would have seen something.”

“When the police were finishing with the pub I had a group of drinkers here. I passed the tin around and there was a fair bit of money put back in.”

The burglary was the pub’s first in around four years with the culprits breaking in through the front window. It wasn’t an isolated case, however, with both Hampshire and Sussex Police investigating a spate of similar incidents in the Rake and Rogate area during the hours before.

The White Horse in Rogate was another one of the premises targeted but the burglars left the Poppy Appeal takings and instead stole the contents of a tip jar and some gin.

Silverware and garden equipment was also stolen following a break-in at a house in Iping sometime between November 3 and 6.

Anyone with any information about either incident should call Sussex Police on 101, quoting reference 47230217792.