Todwick: Cruel burglars swipe unopened birthday cards and money saved for charity from couple’s home

Betty, 78, and John Asher, 75, of Tortmayns, returned to their detached home, where they have lived for 15 years, on the afternoon of Wednesday 23rd July to find that thieves had stole heirlooms that had been in the family for three generations, including a locket that had been given to Betty by her grandfather when she was 12.

“I was in shock at first, then anger took over,” Betty said.

“I came in and all the drawers were pulled out. There were papers all over the place. They had picked a brick out of the garden and thrown it through the window so we were deep in glass.”

“When I went upstairs I’d never seen anything like it. They had emptied all the drawers in both rooms.”

Amongst the stolen possessions from the grandparents-of-six was an Asus laptop, a Nexus tablet and unusual jewellery from Greece - a silver and opal bracelet, a silver chain with a pendant drop, and silver and opal earrings.

“They even stole my mother’s wedding ring and my grandmother’s wedding band – I expect they will be melted down.”

And Betty, who used to work as a cashier in Rotherham before retiring, has donated clothes that the burglars did not take to charity.

“I couldn’t touch them, and I just didn’t want to know about them,” she said.

The burglars even took money from a pot that had been marked by the couple as cash they were going to give to Save the Children.

“And because it was my birthday coming up, my son and daughter-in-law had left birthday and anniversary cards – I hadn’t opened them and they even stole those,” Betty added.

Officers were called to the property after reports of a burglary between 9am and 12.20pm.

A police spokesperson said: “It is believed that every room in the house was ransacked during the incident. The investigation continues.”

Call police on the non-emergency number 101 with information.