A DISABLED father is pleading to the thief that stole from him in Dursley to not ruin his and his daughters’ Christmas this year.

Single parent Gareth Bloomfield, 45, had 22,000 Nectar points stolen from his store card in Sainsbury’s supermarket on Castle Street in the town on Thursday, August 15.

The points, which he had collected over a period of four years, was meant to go towards buying his daughters Hannah, 13, and Molly, 12 a special Christmas present which he would not normally be able to afford.

Mr Bloomfield was diagnosed with a brain tumour four years ago and has only been able to work periodically since in his profession as a psychologist.

He is now offering an undisclosed reward for information that results in either the return of the points or the prosecution of the thief.

The victim, who lives in Timsbury in Hampshire believes his Nectar card had been broken off or stolen from his key ring at some point but has no idea how it got to be used in Dursley, having not been to the area recently.

He said that, because he cannot read his receipts, he only realised the points had been stolen when he tried to purchase the girls’ Xbox games console for Christmas.

“I was in tears. When I told the girls, they said don’t worry dad, we still have you. I think I cried even more then,” he said.

“It would just mean that they could have something they usually wouldn’t get. They help me out a great deal, organising the house and making sure we live in relative comfort for what we have. They’re really good girls and I am very proud to be their dad.

“They’ve been through a horrible divorce four years ago and it’s just me and them. I just wanted them to get a little something back if I can afford it.”

The thief is believed to have walked into the Dursley store on the Thursday, purchased an item, checked the Nectar balance, then the same afternoon purchased over £100 worth of goods whilst Mr Bloomfield was away from home.

Mr Bloomfield added that he would be getting in contact with the store's manager shortly to see if he could help further.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We really want to help Gareth so it would be great if he could contacts us so that we can get the information we need.”

Anyone with information is asked to email investigationandevidence@gmail.com or call crimestoppers on 0800 555111 quoting incident number 219 of December 3, 2013.