CASH donated to Burton Hill House School was among hundreds of pounds worth of drink and money stolen from a pub on Monday night as the landlord and his family slept upstairs.

Thieves broke into The Suffolk Arms in Tetbury Hill, Malmesbury, without landlord Wayne Marshall, 33, hearing.

The next morning Mr Marshall discovered two electric tills had been smashed open and dumped outside the pub, while a fruit machine had been broken into.

The thieves forced the doors of an outside store and stole £200 of beer, four cases of wine worth £200 and 40 bottles of spirits worth £1,000.

The thieves made off with their haul in a blue Vauxhall Cavalier, belonging to a pub customer, which they stole from the car park.

Customers had been raising money in two collecting jars on the counter for the past couple of months, towards a prize draw on Christmas Eve.

Mr Marshall, who took over the pub in March after moving from Birmingham, said the cash was going to be used to buy prizes, with the remainder donated to Burton Hill House School, for children with physical disabilities and learning difficulties.

Alice Langtree, the school's deputy headteacher, said she was disappointed to hear of the theft.

"I have a wish list of equipment we need and there is not always the money to buy it," said Mrs Langtree. "I feel sorry for the children at this school but I feel equally sorry for people so sad they have to nick a charity box from a counter."

Mr Marshall said he thought his pub could have been targeted because it is on the edge of town, near the Dyson factory.

"I have no idea what the motive was for doing this. I don't know who did it, or why they did it, and at the end of the day they have cost me in excess of £4,000 just for the lost spirits," said Mr Marshall, who runs the pub with wife Pamela, 37.

He said he hopes to still be able to donate money to Burton Hill House School, and said he hoped the value of the donation already collected could be recovered on insurance.

Mr Marshall said he, his wife, and their three children, Hayley, 14, Thomas, ten, and five-year-old Zoe, live above the pub.

He said he heard nothing during the break-in and only discovered the theft after taking his children to school on Tuesday morning.

"I didn't hear a thing, I took my children to school at 8.30am and then I noticed the toilet window was open when I returned," he said.

Mr Marshall said his mind started racing, because he could not remember leaving the window open. "I went into the main part of the pub and saw the devastation and the first thought I had was that I could not believe this had happened to us," said Mr Marshall.

"There were raffle tickets scattered all over the floor and the fruit machine was wide open, with different parts of it scattered all over the bar floor," said Mr Marshall. "The collecting jars, two of which had been on the side, were now empty. It was just a shock to think that someone had violated our personal space."

He said an alarm system was fitted but had not gone off.

Mr Marshall said: "My wife is uneasy and my youngest daughter is scared stiff and won't go to sleep.

"Zoe is convinced that somebody is going to break into our house.

"She cannot comprehend what has happened."