Smash and grab thieves ransacked the Upper Holloway HQ of Islington Red Cross Centre.

Charity workers found the place had been turned upside down when they arrived for work at the Holloway Road centre. About £300 had gone.

Organiser Sally Mustoe said: “It was frightful. I just stood there and looked at the mess. I couldn’t speak, I was so upset.

“They’d even helped themselves to odds and ends like stamps and some bottles of wine, which had been donated to help with our fundraising.”

In other news, an Islington Council worker was killed outside a Chinese takeaway in Essex Road.

The married dad-of-four, who worked as a joiner for one of the town hall’s neighbourhood offices, had called in to Sun Hing restaurant after a night out celebrating a friend’s birthday.

He was attacked outside and died of head and stomach injuries.

Two Islington men, aged 21 and 24, were charged with murder.