Money donated to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in memory of a man who lost his battle against cancer has gone missing.

Hundreds of pounds collected after the funeral of Barry Jones disappeared after being placed in a drugs cabinet.

Mr Jones’s partner Christine Fleming, of Newtown, Powys, became concerned when none of the cheques were cashed.

When she contacted the hospital she was told that the money had been placed in a drugs cabinet but about £400 of the £750 raised had since gone missing.

Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, has apologised for the incident and said measures had been put in place to ensure it never happened again. A donation of £400 has also been made to Ward 21 by the trust to replace the missing money.

Mrs Fleming said many of those who had passed donations on at the funeral of Mr Jones, an advertising manager of the Ludlow office of the Shropshire Star, may be wondering why cheques had not been cashed.

Trust spokesman Andy Rogers said: “The matter has been investigated and the trust has written to Mrs Fleming to apologise, and to explain that measures have been put in place to ensure that this cannot happen again.”

She said: “It is such a shame because the ward was fantastic with him.”