The owner of a Carshalton pub has condemned a “low-life” thief jailed for swiping hundreds of pounds in cancer charity cash from the bar.

Reece Stace, 24, of Manor Road, Wallington, was locked up for nine weeks on Friday after admitting stealing a bottle containing £600 from the Windsor Castle.

The money had been donated by customers to a collection for Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

Stace was arrested on Thursday after the Carshalton Road pub's CCTV clearly showed him grabbing the cash and quickly leaving after 9pm on a busy Saturday, October 1.

Landlord Dan Greenaway estimated there was about £600 in the five-litre brandy bottle, which has been used for the pub's annual charity collection for 16 years.

The bottle was later found smashed in Festival Walk the following morning with most of the cash nowhere to be seen.

The dog walker who found it returned what remained of the donations to the pub on the Sunday morning.

Mr Greenaway condemned the "disgusting" theft, adding: "It has upset me quite a lot.

"We have good customers coming in, never any trouble, and then some low-life decides to do this.

“We have done a lot of work with [The Royal Marsden] over the years, and that bottle actual bottle has been sitting on the bar for 16 years.

“Customers put their hard-earned money into it. It’s disgusting, unthinkable, that someone would do it.

“Everyone in here is absolutely appalled.”

Since the theft, regulars at the pub launched an online fundraising appeal to replace the stolen cash.

The appeal has so far raked in £1,305 - more than double the amount estimated to be in the bottle when it was stolen.

Stace was charged with theft on Thursday last week and pleaded guilty at Croydon Magistrates' Court the next day.

He was ordered to pay £200 compensation, a victim surcharge of £115 and £85 in prosecution costs.

His guilty plea was taken into account when imposing the sentence.