Stolen RNLI cash donation prompts online campaign

The money was taken from a van outside Port St Mary Boathouse

An appeal has been made to help recoup a £600 Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) donation, which was stolen on Monday.

Michael Kneale, a 2nd Cox at Port St Mary RNLI, had raised the money by asking guests at his 60th birthday to donate instead of buying gifts.

However, the money was later taken from Mr Kneale's van, which was unlocked, outside the Port St Mary boathouse.

So far, he said, around half the total has been raised through donations.

Mr Kneale said: "It is great that people are trying to help but it is still upsetting that someone has taken this money.

"What makes it so bad is that the envelope was marked RNLI Donation - you really don't expect anything like this to happen in Port St Mary."

Police have launched an investigation into the incident but Mr Kneale said he was not hopeful the money would be recovered.

His daughter Jenni Quillin, who is also a RNLI volunteer, has now set up a <link> <caption>donations page</caption> <url href="http://www.justgiving.com/Jenni-Quillin" platform="highweb"/> </link> to help raise the rest of the cash,

She said: "It makes me sad that this should happen, so to make things more positive I want to try and raise the £600 which was stolen.

"I am hoping that by raising money here my Dad's birthday wish of giving a donation to the RNLI would still happen."