On Monday, the businessman was shocked to hear thieves had broken into his Hunter Street shop for the second time in five months.

This time, in addition to stolen cash, there was significant damage to doors.

Some of the money stolen was from a collection tin in aid of Newcastle boy Kane Ransom and his family to support them during his fight with cancer.

Police said two males entered the business through the front entrance at about 5.40am and that investigations were ongoing.

"They actually got into our office and safe which made the impact and damage a lot bigger than someone just grabbing a donation box like in the past," Mr Neil said.

After previous thefts, Mr Neil secured the donation box in a safe in the business' locked office to avoid further incidents but that didn't stop the offenders.

"They're the sort of things that make you feel a bit sick," he said.

"It's hard enough running a business in Newcastle at the moment but that money was designated to go to people in need.

"Our staff members work hard in that business and some of those things can't be easily replaced and there's a cost and a loss to a business.

"We were one of three or four [businesses] that were hit in a 48 hour period.

"It seemed as if they knew what they were doing but we're pretty confident we have some kind of idea who they were.

"These sort of things make you revisit not only your security in terms of physical doors and stuff but causes you to look at what you do and how you do it and how you can reduce your risk going forward."

Mr Neil said the Newcastle business had set up "quite a few cameras in key locations" and that they were hoping the footage would help ongoing police investigations.

He said the recurring thefts hadn't made him want to relocate from the shop he'd been operating out of for four years.

"I don't think you could avoid it through moving," he said.

Despite the disappointment of yet another break in, Mr Neil said that support from the community had been encouraging.

"We always get great support from the Newcastle community," he said.

"There have been a few people and a couple of businesses indicating they'd like to donate some money for Kane.

"We do a fair bit of fundraising over the years and that always comes back when something like this happens."

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