A TOWN centre charity shop has been left 'disheartened' after thieves poached lead from their roof just a day after reopening.

The Rivers of Life charity chop on the High Street in Halstead say they've been left with a repair bill in the thousands following an incident on Thursday 10 December.

The shop, which is owned and run by the Halstead Baptist Church, had only been reopened for one day after coronavirus lockdown before noticing the theft.

It's suspected the criminals had climbed up on to the roof using a neighbouring building before stripping and damaging countless tiles on the roof.

This was so they could reach and strip lead from the roof of the building.

Other businesses on the High Street were also targeted such as the Royal Oak pub.

The incident has been reported to the police who are investigating and it is hoped police can find the suspects who are believed to have been caught on CCTV by the neighbouring Quality Discounts store.

However, despite hope of catching the culprits, minister of the baptist church, Reverend Sean Carter, says he has been left disheartened by the incident.

Reverend Carter said: "We woke up the next day and were told by Clintons Cards that they had seen loads of titles removed from our roof.

"We reported it to the police and we handed them CCTV of the suspects faces which was taken from QDs next door.

"They must have climbed up on to QD which has a flat roof in order to reach ours.

"They did around £1,000 worth of damage to our roof.

"Fortunately I am the minister of the baptist church on Hedingham Road and we were having the roofing done on the church roof.

"Once we became aware of the damage the roofer was able to come down on the Monday and do some temporary repairs.

"Thankfully it didn't rain, we must have had luck on our side.

"We had been closed due to lockdown had only been reopened for one day.

"It's been very hard for all shops but this damage has been quite a challenge.

"I was was disheartened at first but I also felt a surge of anger because I knew money which would go to help people is now being used to make unnecessary repairs."