A CAMPAIGN has been launched after three medals were stolen from a Remembrance Day window display at a charity shop in Bournemouth.

The honours were on show at the Kinson branch of Prama and were stolen on Tuesday morning.

The missing accolades, which are a long service, a Northern Ireland and a UN medal, were donated to the store to feature in the commemorative display.

June Lyons, manager of the Kinson shop, said staff discovered the medals had been stolen when someone came in to buy the war outfit.

“The display has been up since last week and we said we would sell them after Remembrance Day,” she said.

“We had somebody in who wanted to buy the suit, but when we went to take it from the display we realised all the medals had been unpinned from the jacket.

“It’s the fact that what it was, it wasn’t the cost involved. It was in the window to mark Remembrance Day and someone has thought ‘I’m going to have this’ - it’s not very nice.

“I think it is very disrespectful. We try to do a display like this at this time of year because a lot of local people in Kinson were involved.”

The suit and medals were donated to the charity shop without gift aid, so Ms Lyons, who has worked at the store since it opened four and half years ago, said the previous owner is unknown.

Karen Pothecary, commercial manager for Prama, said: “We are greatly saddened by the actions of this very selfish person, the display was to commemorate the important sacrifices made by so many people”

A Facebook campaign has been launched to track the medals down and the incident has been reported to police.

Volunteer Gemma Kittle, who has worked at the Wimborne Road charity shop for more than two years, said she could not believe someone would steal the medals.

“Someone has potentially risked their life and been given those medals to mark their service,” she said.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said they received a call at 5.12pm on Tuesday.

The spokesperson said: “There was a report of shoplifting between 9am and 12pm on Tuesday November 14.

“Enquiries are continuing and there have been no arrests at this stage.”