A £2,000 reward is being offered to find callous thieves who stole a Leukaemia patient’s charity box from a pub.

Andrew Rowbotham, landlord of The Crown, in Mickleton, Teesdale, is offering the cash to anyone who can secure the conviction of the thieves who stole the money supporting former employee, Gavin Jones, who is currently fighting the disease.

They also took about £300 in cash from the till and the staff’s wages during the attack which happened between 12.30am and 6.30am today (March 20).

Mr Rowbotham said the thieves forced entry to the premises through a back door and knew exactly where to look for the “substantial amount” of money.

“This has never happened before and you just feel violated,” he said.

“It’s something you don’t expect up here although you are always mindful of it but the biggest thing for me is that they have been in that box – it’s a charity box for Gavin so it’s not that they are pinching from a business, they are pinching from someone who’s sick.”

He added: “For anybody who knows these people, if they have any sort of moral values whatsoever then they will know they have stolen from a charity.”

Police confirmed some of the items were recovered a couple of miles away in a lane near to Grassholme Reservoir and crime scene investigators were on scene this morning.

Mr Jones’ cousin, Sharron Phillips, has been leading the fundraising for the 26-year-old and said the news had upset the family, from Barnard Castle.

“It’s upsetting more than anything because someone would know the story of Gavin from the front of the box, they have obviously looked at that and gone ahead and taken the money,” Ms Phillips said.

She said the family had initially started fundraising to help with the cost of commuting to The James Cook University Hospital, where Mr Jones has spent a lot of time receiving chemotherapy since he was diagnosed in January.

He is now expected to make a full recovery but they plan to keep fundraising to help the hospital’s Ward 33, and other charities that support Leukaemia sufferers.

If anyone has any information, noticed anybody acting suspicious, or has CCTV covering the area, contact Barnard Castle Police on 101.