The family said they are all ‘shaken up’ as they were not aware the burglars were in the house at the time, and that the incident has left them ‘more cautious’
A family’s Christmas spirit was crushed after callous crooks nicked two cars, a handbag, and a stash of Christmas gifts from under their free. The gutted household discovered their nightmare on Sunday, December 15, as they woke to find their belongings pinched after burglars busted into their home via the back door.
The scoundrels took all the presents under the tree at the Ford estate residence in Litherland, near Liverpool, including toys, clothes, Lego sets, whisky, and more. A white Ford Fiesta and a white Ford Puma were also taken.
Phillip Meadows, 36, told the Liverpool Echo how his wife had spent the previous evening wrapping presents at her mum’s, only to wake up to the horror that the lot had been pinched. He said: “My wife went round to my mother-in-law’s to wrap all the Christmas presents.
“She left around 1.30am, and then she came home and we went to bed. The next morning we were woken up early in the morning by another family member to say their mum’s house had been robbed.
“They just came downstairs in the morning and it was all gone. I think [the burglars] just came round to get the cars, and then as they’ve come in through the back, they’ve spotted all the Christmas presents and thought, ‘oh, we’ll take them as well’.”
Phillip said a whopping £1500 worth of goodies were nicked from under the Christmas tree while his in-laws snoozed upstairs. The cheeky thieves also swiped his mother-in-law’s handbag, which had the car and house keys inside.
After the break-in, the family was forced to fork out about £750 to swap “every single lock in the house”. Phillip shared that his mum-in-law is “very shaken up” and “absolutely devastated” after the burglary.
He said: “She wants to get Christmas out of the way and then they’re looking at moving. We’re obviously still shaken up but everyone is okay. I know me and my wife are a lot more cautious now with making sure the doors are locked and taking the car keys up to bed with us. We’re planning on getting CCTV on our house as extra security.”
A Merseyside Police spokesperson confirmed: “We can confirm an investigation is underway following a burglary in Litherland in the early hours of Sunday 15 December. At around 6.50am, a resident of [the Ford estate] reported that access had been gained to the premises during the night and car keys, two vehicles and presents were reportedly stolen.”
Members of the public who have information between 2.30am and 6am, can contact Merseyside police on @MerPolCC or call 101, or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 with reference 24001052231.
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