STAFF at Lush in Oxford have made the decision to give back thousands of pounds worth of donations, following "uncertainty" after a recent shop burglary.

The Cornmarket Street soap shop was burgled earlier this month, but staff were overjoyed when homeless woman Lottie returned all the expensive goods only a day later, claiming to have chased down the thief.

To thank Lottie for her bravery, people all across the city donated to a fundraising page set up by Lush, and at the end of last week it had hit nearly £10,000.

But the fundraising page was then suspended by the shop after police said they had arrested two people, one of them a 29-year-old homeless woman, in connection with the burglary. 

The pair have since been released on bail until May 19.

And after a difficult decision, Lush managers decided to return all donations made by the public and instead make a sizeable donation themselves.

This week a spokeswoman for Lush said: "Due to the current uncertainty surrounding the recent burglary in our Lush Oxford shop, Lush have decided to return all of the money that has been kindly donated by the public and replace it with £20,000 of our own money. 

"We intend to share this money among the following local homeless charities that work with people in need within the Oxfordshire area, and can be accessed by Lottie and others who find themselves living on the streets at a time when resources and services to help them with the problems of being homeless are overstretched and underfunded."

Lush has chosen to split the £20,000 between Oxford Homeless Pathways, The Icolyn Smith Foundation/Oxford Community Soup Kitchen, Oxford Homeless Project and Aspire Oxford.

Staff have asked that if anyone would like to give a donation, they would suggest donating to one of these charities.