A SAFE containing around £1,000 in Christmas donations has been stolen from a church in Loftus.

St Joseph's and St. Cuthbert's Church on the High Street was burgled sometime between 7pm on December 27 and 9am the following morning.

The suspects removed a safe from the premises, described as a combination safe which is approximately 2ft by 2ft in size and grey in colour.

The safe contained approximately £1,000 in Christmas donations and several registers that document historic incidents which have taken place over the past 100 years.

Anyone with information which could assist police are asked to contact PC Stewart Shepherd or Detective Sergeant Paul Hodgson on the non-emergency number 101, quoting incident number 235550.