Callous thieves smashed their way into a dad's home and helped themselves to his late wife's jewellery.
Thieves made off with sentimental items after forcing their way into Bryan Mcinally’s home, in Bootle. The items belonged to his late wife Laura who died on Mother’s Day last year, leaving behind her two children Ethan and Lucie.
Many of Laura’s items that “cannot be replaced”. Bryan told the ECHO that his wife died at home of SUDEP - sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.
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The 46-year-old told said: “My wife died last year on Mother’s Day, it has been a troubling year for the kids so my wife's parents took the kids to Spain on holiday, and I decided to get away to the Lakes for a few days.”
A short time after arriving at the Lakes District, Bryan got a call from his Ring doorbell from his neighbours. They said they’d noticed the back doors open and windows smashed.
The dad-of-two added: “They’d smashed the window with brick, crawled through the window and when the alarm had gone off they ripped that off the wall and put it in the sink to muffle the sound.
“But they’ve left the tap running and that's why the ceiling has come in. They've just filled the sink and it's overflowed, it's obviously been running for a long time while they've been rummaging through everything.”
As well as significant damage to the house, the burglars took expensive items including jewellery and watches.
Bryan added: “I had quite a decent watch collection over the years to pass down to my son, but they've gone , my wife’s engagement ring, bracelet, earrings. I used to buy her Cloud Nine jewellery from David M Robinson , bangles, all those sort of things that have sentimental value, they’re gone.
“The watches can be replaced, everything else is replaceable but much of it has sentimental value and cannot be replaced. The jewellery was supposed to be going to my daughter. She’s going to prom soon and would have worn it for that.”
Bryan believes that the burglars may have been watching the house for some time. He said: “Maybe they came here because there wasn’t a car up the drive. They must have been scoping the house for a while and waited until I had gone.”
A spokesperson for Merseyside police said: "We can confirm we received a report on Tuesday 11 April of a burglary at a property on Moss Lane, in Bootle. During a break-in, it was reported that offenders stole sentimental items of jewellery and caused damage to the property.
"If you have any information about this incident, contact @MerPolCC on Twitter, ‘Merseyside Police Contact Centre’ on Facebook or ring 101 with reference 23000243027."
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