Accrington food bank has 1,000 tins of spaghetti hoops stolen

Rev Ian Enticott of St James' church inspects boxes the thieves targeted

"Trays and trays of spaghetti hoops" have been stolen from a food bank in a theft that has "devastated" volunteers.

About 1,000 tins were taken by thieves from St James' Church in Canon Street, Accrington, between 10 and 15 January.

The cans came from the Hyndburn Helpers volunteer group, which said they were part of a wider donation worth £8,000 which "filled three vans" and been "enough to last us until summer".

Lancashire Police has asked anyone with information to get in touch.

Curry night cancelled

Hyndburn Helpers' co-founder Lisa Hilton said somebody must have seen what happened "because somebody has been walking out with trays and trays of spaghetti hoops".

She said it looked like the thieves had left and returned over several days because they had gone through many boxes.

The Hyndburn Helpers said they still had food to give out

Thankfully, the group had already received lots of offers on Facebook from people wanting to replace the items, she said.

She said that while a curry night had to be cancelled because of the state the church had been left in, the group still had food to give out.