Mary HamiltonHungry thieves with an appetite for crime have broken into a Wroxham butcher's shop.But the unsavoury characters ignored charity cash and pricy equipment and made off with some tasty treats instead.Mary Hamilton

Hungry thieves with an appetite for crime have broken into a Wroxham butcher's shop.

But the unsavoury characters ignored charity cash and pricey equipment and made off with some tasty treats instead.

And when family butcher Kevin Massingham surveyed the damage, he found the only things missing were two trays of pies.

The piesnatchers took 12 steak and kidney pies - worth �1.35 each - and 12 �1.50 Cornish pasties, leaving charity boxes full of cash untouched.

They even ignored the packaged cheeses and pate to make a beeline for the pie cabinet full of homemade pastries.

Mr Massingham, who runs Massingham Bros butcher in Wroxham with his 68-year-old dad Richard, said police called at about 3am last Wednesday to say there had been a break-in and a window at the side of the shop had been smashed.

But when they went to check what had been stolen they could not see anything missing - there was no damage apart from the broken window and the tills had not

been tampered with.

It was not until later that day that he realised two full trays were missing from the pie cabinet.

"I knew the pies were good, but I didn't think they were worth risking a criminal record," the butcher said. "You'd think if they have got in they are going to get something else.

"I was a bit hacked off about it at first, but it's something that might make people chuckle. Perhaps when the burglar alarm went off they just grabbed the first thing they could and ran off."

A Norfolk police spokesman said the burglary happened between 2.50am and 3.05am on July 1, when the thief or thieves smashed the back window causing about �50 worth of damage and made off with 24 pies.

Contact Sgt Gary Read at Stalham Police on 0845 456 4567 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.