Cash found in abandoned safe donated to Suffolk charities

A large amount of cash, discovered in an abandoned safe by a scrap metal dealer, has been donated to charity

Staff at Suffolk-based Sackers made the discovery in April before handing the money to police.

Now a court has ruled the scrap metal firm was the legal owner, following investigations that concluded the cash was not the proceeds of crime and had not been reported missing.

Sackers’ workers originally thought there was around £20,000 inside but after all invalid money was removed the amount that could be cashed by the bank was £14,416, the BBC reports.

The firm then rounded the amount up to £16,000 and decided to split the money equally between East Anglian Children’s Hospice and St Elizabeth Hospice.

Sackers’ Adrian Dodds said: “The money was never ours in the first place so there was no question it had to go to charity.”

Hannah Bloom from St Elizabeth Hospice said the donation would be extremely welcome. “We are passionate about ensuring there is no charge for our services, and we rely on the support of the local community and businesses in order to enable us to continue to do this,” she added.