CHILDREN have been left heartbroken after callous thieves stole hundreds of pounds they had raised for Comic Relief.

Blackrod Church School was targeted by raiders who smashed their way into the village primary school and forced open the school safe.

The break-in was discovered when the caretaker arrived to open up the4 school on Vicarage Road West and saw smashed glass

Headteacher James Royal said: "Whoever did this disabled the alarms and used a crow bar to open the safe.

"£1,000 was stolen, and some of that was the money children had raised for Comic Relief.

"We were collecting the money in to take to the bank in one go.

"The children had raised the money to help others who need it."

The raid happened during the night of Tuesday March 17, with intruders taking the money which children had raised through organising Red Nose Day fun, including visiting the funny faces photo booth.

Mr Royal said: "We are hoping we can get the money back from the insurance but parents have been very generous making donations.

"We have explained to the children what has happened and they accept that there are some unkind people and reminded them of all the lovely things we still have in school.

"The children saw the mess when they came into school in the morning. They also saw the police and the scene of crime officers and we used that to our advantage in their learning in lessons."

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "We were called at 11:45am on March 18 and the incident is believed to have happened sometime between 8pm the previous night and 7am that morning.

"The offenders are believed to have entered the school grounds and smashed the glass on the fire escape door at the side of the school to gain entry.

"Once in the school, the offenders have used a crowbar to force open a strong cabinet and stole the property from within.

"They then made off in an unknown direction."

Anyone with information is asked to ring 101.