THIEVES stole £300 cash and a video recorder from a charity headquarters in Middlesbrough in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Ex-convict Rod Jones, who runs Convoy Aid, a charity which helps Romanian children, was in Liverpool picking up supplies for orphanages when thieves kicked down his front door.

He returned yesterday morning to find a double deck video recorder, worth £300, missing, and the equivalent in charity takings gone, from his Crescent Road home, which also serves as the charity headquarters.

He said: "The door was lying on the ground. I have bars on all my windows and the door has three Chubb locks on it, so it must have been kicked down with some force."

Now Mr Jones, who has helped thousands of Romanians since founding the charity more than ten years ago, is offering a £100 reward to anyone who can help police solve the crime.

He said: "We use it for the charity. People donate money to serve as "godparents" to Romanian children, and when I go over there, I take footage of the children for them.

" I use the video to record it and send the footage out to the godparents."