THE volunteer manager of a shop raising funds for a Herefordshire hospice says her faith in humanity has been restored after being flooded with donations just days after cash was stolen from the unit.

Mary Brown says she was left "totally distraught" after discovering a cash box containing a £50 float had been taken from a sorting room at the back of the St Michael's Hospice Pound Shop in Eign Gate, Hereford city centre.

But after mentioning the theft on social media, the shop has received donations far exceeding the amount that went missing.

"The theft has practically destroyed me," she said.

"It's basically stealing from the dying. How could someone do that?"

After realising the box was missing, shortly after closing last Thursday, Mrs Brown, who has been at the shop 11 years and carried out various fundraising events for the Bartestree-based hospice, says she "searched everywhere", thinking she had perhaps put it down somewhere else, before realising it had been taken.

"I phoned my area manager in floods of tears," she said. "I was totally distraught.

"The hospice desperately needs that money. It's a place that means so much to me.

"My volunteers all give up their time and do their bit for St Michael's."

She said £50 has since been handed to her from fellow Eign Gate business Body Mods, while other donations have been handed to staff at the shop, and paid in online.

"It really has restored my faith in human nature," said Mrs Brown.

The matter has been reported to police.