Charity boxes in aid of Dover teenager Kelly Turner stolen

Kelly Turner was diagnosed with desmoplastic small round cell tumour in 2015

Thieves have stolen collection tins raising money for life-saving treatment for a teenager who has a rare form of cancer.

Kelly Turner, 17, from Dover in Kent, was diagnosed with desmoplastic small round cell tumour in 2015.

Local people have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in support of her family's appeal for £1m to pay for specialist treatment in the US.

Kent Police said it was investigating the thefts.

Three tins were taken from the Dovorian restaurant, the Red House Chinese takeaway and from a bakery in the town within the past week.

They follow other similar thefts from a newsagents in Hythe, Kent, in July last year.

Kelly's father Martin Turner described the recent spate of thefts as "gut wrenching".

He said the family had already raised enough money for the required surgery in New York, but still needed funds for life-saving immunotherapy and after-care treatment.

More than 400 of the collection tins have been placed at establishments in Kent.

Mr Turner said they could have "anything from £10 in small change up to £200 in them".

"They [the thieves] just don't care, they're effectively denying us our bid to save our daughter's life," he added.

"It's like they're murdering Kelly. I take it personally.

"People say I shouldn't but I do."

Kent Police said it had not ruled out the possibility that the thefts were linked.