BURGLARS forced
their way into lonely
drinker Jack
Hammond's favourite
watering hole to steal
charity cash afterhours
- just days after
Jack's appeal for pub
buddies was highlighted
in the Daily Echo.
The culprits smashed a
window to get inside the
Compass Inn, in Winsor, then
made a beeline for the oversized
Bell's whisky bottle.
But it wasn't a tipple they were
after. The glass bottle contained
about £600 in coins. The burglars
used bolt-croppers to cut
the chain that fixed the bottle to
the bar before fleeing with it.
Landlady Mop Draper, who
lives above the pub, was woken
by the sound of the window
smashing and the burglar
alarm going off.
She said: "By the time I got
downstairs they had gone, but I
could see the chain from the
bottle hanging down by the bar.
"I was here on my own, so it
was pretty nervewracking. I
cannot believe someone would
be so mean as to steal a charity
collection.
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"We had been collecting
money for about a year, and the
bottle was nearly full. There
must have been about £600
inside. It must have taken more
than one person to lift it - it
was extremely heavy."
The pub hit the national headlines
last week after the Daily
Echo ran the story of 88-yearold
Jack Hammond's search for
a drinking pal following his
move from Barton on Sea to the
Forest Edge Care Home in
Cadnam.
Jack Hammond
As a result the pub was
"extraordinarily busy" on
Friday evening, the night of the
burglary.
The pub was also sent £200 by
ITV's This Morning show for
people to have a drink with
Jack. Some of this was spent
last week, but Jack has donated
the remaining £130 to a new
charity collection at the pub.
The stolen money was due to
be donated to the Bibic Centre
for brain-injured children in
Bridgewater, Somerset.
● Anyone with information
should call Hampshire police
on 0845 045 4545.
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