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Staff at Portchester Methodist Church, in Castle Street, walked in on Monday morning to find the office kitchen ransacked and a fire escape door smashed after a break-in over the weekend.

The burglar took off with £50 in room hire fees stored in the office.

It comes after the church had its garage doors ripped off in October in a suspected break-in, followed by a suspected theft of £300, which had been raised for Rowans Hospice, during a concert on Saturday, December 1.

Portchester Methodist Church, in Castle Street.

This year has seen the church targeted twice – with a break-in in January that saw nothing taken and a burglary in February when the culprit made off with £70 of takings from the church’s community cafe.

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Lucy Cook, the church’s community outreach co-ordinator, believes the three most recent break-ins could be the work of one person.

She said: ‘I would expect it’s the same person because the route they take seems to be the same every time.

The thief is believed to have broken into the church through the fire escape door.

‘I feel very sorry that they felt they needed to do this. If they need help all they need to do is approach the church. They don’t need to steal from us.’

The church was hoping to spend the stolen money on its variety of community projects, which include a memory cafe for people with dementia, a senior citizen’s lunch club, and a craft club.

Lucy said: ‘They are taking is money that goes back into community projects.

‘It’s like their own money they are taking.’

Lucy said the police had been notified, but not attended the scene due to a lack of evidence.

She said: ‘Every time, the police have been called, but they have not come out.

‘We understand why - they are not coming because there is not any evidence.’

The police believe the crime took place between 7pm on the Saturday March 16 and 9am on Monday March 19.

A police spokesman said: ‘A side window was smashed and entry gained through a door. The kitchen was ransacked and £50 was stolen. Nothing else appears to have been taken.’

Anyone with information is asked to contact the police on 101 and quote the reference number 4420009909.

The church remains open, but the community cafe has closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Portchester church suffers fifth break-in within six months