A CHARITY shop owner and animal lover has forked out £1,000 on CCTV cameras after jewellery was stolen from her store in Blackwater.

A wedding band and an engagement ring went missing from a display cabinet at Many Tears in Bell Lane on January 7.

The theft happened sometime between noon and 5pm when the store, which raises funds for rescued dogs and cats, was busy and shop owner Carole Counter, 69, was serving customers.

Distraught with what had happened as she had bought the stock out of her own money, she purchased a set of four CCTV cameras last week to prevent a repeat occurrence.

Mrs Counter said: “Lots of people seem to be stealing at the moment, it is a sad world we live in and something is clearly wrong.

“I bought the jewellery from eBay before Christmas, it was not too expensive, but that is not the point.

“It has to stop somehow as I cannot afford to lose the money. We do not know who took the jewellery as they were very quick, that is why I have bought the cameras so that we can catch them next time.”

She said she was shocked to see meat cabinets padlocked during her recent visit to Iceland Farnborough but accepted how “desperate people had become in these tough times”.

“I think it is getting to be a very desperate world if people are stealing from Iceland and charity shops,” she said.

She is now bringing the jewellery, to be sold in her shop, home with her each night until the cameras are installed.

Turning 70 years of age this year and looking after her poorly husband, Mrs Counter said her ordeal had been "distressing" but she felt so strongly for the cause she was raising money for she had to continue.

Many Tears Animal Rescue is a rescue centre run by a couple in South Wales – Sylvia and Bill Van Atta – who help foster dogs and some cats into homes throughout the UK.

“I feel very deeply about the work that Sylvia and Bill do and I do not know how and why some people treat their pets in the way that they do,” Mrs Counter said.

Mrs Counter is trying to put her ordeal behind her by looking to decorate her shop for Valentine’s Day to push sales up for the pets in need.

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