Finance guru Martin Lewis pitches in after Brixworth football vandalism

Personal finance expert Martin Lewis contributed to the fundraising effort

Money expert Martin Lewis and TV presenter Ben Shephard have given their support to a fundraising effort after a local football club was vandalised.

Thieves raided Brixworth Central Sports Club in Northamptonshire, home to Sands United, a team formed to support men affected by the death of a baby.

Shephard tweeted about the appeal and Lewis donated almost £2,000 towards it.

Northamptonshire Police have released CCTV of masked men stealing TVs and damaging the clubhouse on Monday.

Four males forced their way in to the building through a fire exit and stole three televisions, cash and alcohol in the raid between about 01:00 and 02:00 BST.

Walls, ceilings and part of the bar at the club, which is used by a number of community groups, were also badly damaged.

The bar was damaged in the attack on the clubhouse

Police released CCTV of the raid on the club

It is home to Sands United, a football team which is part of a national charity, Sands, supporting people affected by stillbirth and neonatal death.

Following the break-in at the clubhouse, Sands Utd appealed for £2,500 on crowdfunding site Go Fund Me, to replace items and fix the damage.

The appeal was seen and tweeted by Shephard, and Lewis made a contribution of his own, as Northants Live first reported.

Ben Shephard tweeted to his 757,000 followers

"We met Ben [Shephard] at an awards ceremony and were amazed when we saw him tweeting about what happened at the clubhouse," Rob Allen, who founded the local football team, told the BBC.

Mr Allen and his wife lost a baby in 2017, four days before she was due to be born.

"Martin Lewis messaged us and asked how he could help with our appeal for the clubhouse, then he donated exactly the amount that took us to our target," said Mr Allen.

"He said, 'well you've done it, you've hit the target'."

Together with his donation, the personal finance expert wrote: "What a terrible thing to have happened.

"Grief is a sharp knife to deal with. And physical exercise so good for balancing out mental health. To be deprived of it right now is terrible. So get back to playing :)."

Almost £4,000 has now been donated.

"It just shows the great British public is amazing at supporting local communities," Mr Allen said.

He said any funds not needed by the club would go to the Sands charity.

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