A fundraising shop in Rochester was broken into twice in less than two weeks after moving to the town from Maidstone

Kerry-Ann Maxwell opened Give Vintage in St Margaret’s Bank earlier this year, relocating the community interest company from premises in Maidstone, as she needed more room for stock.

Mental health nurse Ms Maxwell hopes that once the business starts turning a profit, she will be able to use the money to give people who have been affected by mental health issues a chance to step back into everyday life.

The 44-year-old wants to run workshops to give people coming out of hospital a chance to make their own furniture and buy it as a discounted rate when they move into their own homes after leaving hospital.

Someone smashed the front window of the shop, which sells vintage goods, in an attempt to break in to the store between midnight and 11.10am on Thursday, September 1.

Then, between 4.45pm between Saturday, September 10, and 10.30am on Monday, September 12, someone forced open a window at the back of the shop and managed to get in.

Ms Maxwell, who works as a nurse at NHS rehabilitation hospital in Maidstone, said: “I was at home but my boyfriend Colin came to open the shop and he phoned me to say someone had tried to get in the shop and smashed one of the panes of glass in the front door.

“They didn’t get in on that occasion but they did get in the second time, I’m extremely relieved, but I think sadly it might just have been someone who was looking for cash.

“They had everything out of the till, all the paperwork and our postbags luckily they hadn’t damaged anything except the blinds on the window.

"Because we’re in a listed building any damage that occurs is really expensive and it’s money that we can’t afford because we’ve just started up again, essentially we’re a new business and we don’t have the funds for that.”

She added: “We’ve got two volunteers that do have mental health problems and work here on a voluntary basis and I couldn’t run the business without them.”

Anyone with information that can help is asked to call police on 01474 366 149 quoting reference XY/20248/16. Alternatively contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.