A furious shopkeeper has spoken of his disbelief at thieves who stole a charity collection bottle filled with almost £500.

Burglars smashed their way into Adam Clifford's motor and tool shop in Hove at 3am on Saturday and used bolt cutters to chop through a chain securing the replica Coca-Cola bottle to his counter.

They took nothing else.

Mr Clifford, who runs Clifford's of Brighton in School Road with his brothers Bernard and Paul, said: "I just don't know what sort of person would do this. We'd been collecting that money for almost eight months and were about to empty it out and donate it to the Hurstwood Park Hospital. I'm really angry with whoever did this, I just hope they get what's coming to them."

Mr Clifford said matters had been made worse by the fact it was the second time in two nights crooks had tried to break in to the shop.

Early on Friday morning they smashed a shopfront window but could not get in. Mr Clifford had the glass replaced but the same window was forced through on Saturday before the fitting had set properly.

Mr Clifford said: "They obviously knew what they were after. They must have been in the shop and seen the bottle.

"It's callous to take charity money when it could be doing something either them or their families might need in the future."

He said the incident had been caught on CCTV but he did not recognise the criminals. Two men entered the shop while another two waited with a car outside. The footage has been handed over to Sussex Police who are investigating the incident.

Anyone with information should call Sussex Police on 0845 6070999 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.