Sometime between 00:15 and 01:30 Sunday 18th August, the charity’s popular shop on Magdalen Street, Colchester, was broken into causing extensive damage to the glass on the front door. 

Inside the shop, there was substantial damage to internal fixtures including to till equipment, resulting in the shop remaining closed to the public on Sunday and Monday. Nothing was taken, however, well over £1,000 of repairs to the building and replacing damaged equipment and the resulting loss of sales, has led to a cost of more than £2,500 to St Helena Hospice. 

This is the third time this year that a St Helena shop has been broken into. Earlier this year its shop in Dovercourt suffered two break-ins within four months. This latest incident in Colchester has caused further loss of income to the charity, which relies heavily on its retail operation to raise vital income to support people across north east Essex who face incurable illness and bereavement.

Jo Ince, retail area manager at St Helena, said: 

“To be targeted three times now in 2024 is just devastating. 

“We are heartbroken that we have had this happen to us again, causing us to spend money on repairs and the loss of income as we need to close the shop for the day while we get everything sorted to continue trading safely. 

“This total of more than £2,500 is around the amount it costs to run the Hospice inpatient unit for more than 10 hours, caring for people in our local community in need of support at their most vulnerable time.

“This is vital money that should be spent on supporting patients and their families.

“With only 20% of our income received from the NHS, our shops help to generate funds to make sure we can be there to support people in our communities who need us, whether through hospice services at home, at the Hospice in Colchester or over the phone via our SinglePoint 24/7 helpline and rapid response service.”

St Helena is urging anyone who may have witnessed the break-in or knows anything about the incident to contact Essex Police on 101 and quote crime reference 42/126557/24 .