A SIGNED football shirt was stolen from a children’s charity shop in Bournemouth.

The framed AFC Bournemouth shirt, which was due to raise £500 in raffle tickets, was stolen from the window display of Dorset Children Foundation’s Boscombe store.

Angry trustee member Patsy Hallmey has shared an urgent appeal for information on social media.

“It’s so frustrating and annoying that some scumbag would steal this shirt,” she said.

“It happened at around lunchtime on Monday. One of our volunteers was at the till point when they saw a person going out the door with the shirt.

“The manager chased the person down the road but was unable to catch him. He was white, aged around 50 and 5’8” (1.7m) tall. He had a walking stick, although this could have been a ruse. He was wearing a dark hat, denim jacket and a dark bag over his shoulder.

“I’m worried this was stolen to order as it’s been on display, although we’ve taken it in every night.”

Dorset Children’s Foundation, which helps sick and disabled children by providing financial support towards medical expenses not on the NHS, is one of AFC Bournemouth’s charity partners for the 2017/18 season.

The framed shirt, which has been signed by 23 members of the team including manager Eddie Howe and Cherries legend Steve Fletcher, was due to be given as a raffle prize.

“Our idea in sharing this information is to make this shirt too hot to handle. We have very good, close-up pictures of the shirt so people will recognise it if they see it for sale,” Patsy said.

“We got the shirt signed when we were invited to an open day to watch the team practise. We were so proud to get it signed, it was such a lovely thing. And it was due to raise £500 at raffle.

“The person who stole it had directly stolen from sick and disabled children,” she added.

Members of the public have commented on the charity’s Facebook page to express their ‘shock’ and ‘disgust’.

One person said: “I can’t believe any AFC Bournemouth fan could steal this and have to look at it every day with it on their conscience.”

Defender Steve Cook told the Daily Echo he would be offering to replace the signed shirt.