It happened on 27 December.

The tins were part of the annual Christmas Tree Festival, which raises money for various charities.

Bailiwick Law Enforcement shared CCTV footage of the incident and asked that anyone with information contact PC 145 Kershaw on 725111 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Rector of Town Church, the Rev. Matthew Barrett, said it was very disappointing and that he never expected someone to do something like this.

‘One of the joys of Guernsey is being able to leave churches open, you can’t do that in the UK, but unfortunately this has made us re-consider that open door policy,’ he said.

Although the church doors will not close as a result of the incident, it has made church officials more wary of the situation.

‘The Christmas Tree Festival is such an important part of our community offering.

‘Charities get so much from it and lots of people from the community come in to enjoy it so it would be such a shame if we were to have to change the way we do that in the future.’

Although he did not know how much money was in the tins, as that is for the charities to keep track of, Mr Barrett was upset that two people could take the money so blatantly.

‘The charities left those boxes there in good faith, and the money was supposed to go to good causes that work hard.’

He recognised that the Christmas and New Year period was a difficult time for people short of money, but said there was no excuse for such behaviour.

• Watch the CCTV footage at: https://bit.ly/368MXp5

While Guernsey Police have been investigating for just over three weeks now, the footage was released to the public only yesterday after it had been viewed by the force and other necessary groups to ensure the men could not be identified by the initial groups before it was shown to the wider community to see if anyone else could identify them.