DESPERATELY ill children have been the victims of a theft.

A charity collection bottle for the Demelza House Children’s Hospice near Sittingbourne was snatched from the bar of a public house.

Hilary Martin, licensee of the British Queen at Minster, near Sheerness, said: “I had only left the bar for moments and unfortunately there was no one else in the bar. When I went back, the Bells’s Whisky bottle that had been chained to the bar had gone.

“There were a lot of notes and pound coins in it. I am devastated by the loss and disgusted that anyone can be so mean. Whoever it is they must be the sickest thief on the island.”

She added: “This money was for children, some of them facing death and would have gone to give them comforts during the little time they’ve got left. When I saw it had gone I just felt sick.”

The British Queen has regularly made an annual donation to Demelza House of around £1,000 and Mrs Martin says she will re-start the collection. Police at Sittingbourne are investigating the theft.