A CHARITY worker has been left fuming after thieves stole 600 Easter eggs destined for orphans in the former Eastern bloc.

The eggs, kept in boxes in Rod Jones' Convoy Aid warehouse, in Stockton, were taken on Tuesday night by thieves who are also believed to have been responsible for a raid on a caf next door.

The culprits used the charity's van to ram-raid the warehouse, off Blue House Point Road, on the Portrack Industrial Estate.

The raiders also smashed into a side door and stole about £2,000 worth of food for the orphans, plus £800 worth of welding equipment.

The chocolate treats were to be handed over to impoverished orphans in Romania as part of their May 5 Orthodox Easter celebrations.

Mr Jones now plans to create a security organisation to guard against any further raids on the crime-hit industrial estate.

He said: "Those little kids in Romania are now going to have to go without, at Easter. We were also taking over a load of kitchen utensils, but they are no use now because we have got no food to put in them.

"It is a mystery to me how the people responsible got in and out of the compound. They must also have used a lorry to help lift all the stuff, because they took an awful lot of it."

Mr Jones still proposes to travel to Romania next month to hand over aid that he has been collecting in recent months.

Police confirmed yesterday that Convoy Aid and the Blue House Caf next door were both raided on Tuesday night.

It is thought that thieves stole all the caf's food, a microwave oven, a freezer and the cash register.