STUNNED restaurant staff have been left disgusted after a thief swiped a tin which was collecting money to help people with mental health issues.

CCTV footage at the Pizza Hut restaurant, in Turner Rise retail park, Colchester, shows a man entering at about 12.30pm last Wednesday.

Staff described his behaviour as suspicious and erratic and he left just five minutes later.

Restaurant manager Shannon Ratcliffe was shocked to discover a charity box raising money for Mental Health UK was also missing.

She said: “At about 12.30pm a man entered the restaurant.

“He waited at the takeaway window and told me he was waiting for some friends to come in.

“He was carrying what looked like a large gym bag and was standing very close to the window.

“Every time I asked if he was OK he just said he was waiting for his friends and leaned against the window.

“I went back into the restaurant to tell someone what he was up to.

“He looked suspicious and agitated, like he was on something.

“He was itching his hands and couldn’t stand still.”

Shannon left the man alone briefly to alert her colleagues about the man’s behaviour but when she returned he had disappeared and the charity box was missing.

When the staff reviewed the CCTV footage, they witnessed the man slipping a blue box into his bag before leaving.

Shannon said: “The box was connected with a cable tie but that had been singed off with a lighter.

“Although you can’t see much on CCTV, you can see him get a lighter out of his bag and then the little blue pot going into his bag.

“We had only just opened and there was only four people there working in the restaurant.”

Now Shannon is appealing for information to help find the man who is pictured in the footage in the hopes he can help with the police investigation.

She said: “It is horrible to steal anything, let alone from a charity and such a good cause.

“How could anyone stoop that low?”

Anyone with information can call Colchester police on 101.