A popular town-centre cafe was broken into at the weekend and a charity box was stolen, making it the third incident of its kind in Ashford in the space of two weeks.

The burglar alarm at The Chilli Bite in Ashford High Street went off in the early hours of Saturday morning, around 3am, where the owner Trevor Cook says he found the window of a door smashed.

It was reported to police that a charity box for the Aspinall Foundation – which runs Port Lympne and Howletts – was stolen.

It's the most recent incident in Ashford involving the theft of a charity box, and police are now linking it to a spate of other similar thefts in the high street.

The first burglary took place at Timpson between 6pm on Thursday, May 25 and 7.30am on Friday, May 26 where a charity collection box containing cash was reported stolen.

Another charity collection box was taken from Premier Cellar took place on Tuesday, May 30 between 2pm and 2.10pm, followed by the burglary which took place most recently at The Chilli Bite on Saturday reported to police at around 5.15am where another box was taken.

The force have now released a CCTV image.

Investigating officer Sergeant Jasmine Bloomfield said: "We are linking these incidents and carrying out a number of enquiries to identify the man in the image who might be able to help us with information."

Trevor Cook, who owns the Chilli Bite, reported that a pane of glass in the new counter fridge was smashed in the raid.

Talking about the stolen charity box, he said: “It’s quite disheartening. They were gone within about six seconds.

“I’ve no idea what was in the box but I know it was pretty full.

“It was chained to the counter, which was jerked, and it smashed.

“The counter cost about £2,000. I was just thankful it wasn’t a lot worse. If there was anybody who witnessed anything it would be handy if they came forward.”

Anyone who saw anything suspicious or who recognises the man in the picture should call 01843 222289 quoting reference ZY/22101/17.