Family appeals to burglars to return stolen photos

February 21 2012
A Baguley family is appealing to burglars to return irreplaceable family photos taken when their home was broken into.

Among the items stolen when the burglars broke into the house on Virginia Close were two handbags containing three USB memory sticks with treasured photos on them.

One of the memory sticks is olive green coloured and the other two royal blue. The photos are not stored anywhere else and the owner desperate to retrieve them.

The thieves used a hook through the kitchen cat flap to steal keys from
inside the house, before letting themselves in and ransacking rooms
downstairs.

Police are now appealing to anyone with information to come forward.

Detective Sergeant Doug Cowan, from the Volume Crime Team at West
Didsbury, said: "Anyone who has been a victim of burglary will know what
an infringement on your privacy it is, but these thieves have also taken
personal photographs which are of huge sentimental value to this family.

"The pictures are the only copies the family has and understandably are
desperate for them to be returned.

"Clearly our focus is to catch the offenders responsible, but just as
importantly I want to make a direct appeal to the thieves themselves.

"You may not have realised when you burgled this house what you had
stolen. The pictures are of absolutely no monetary value to you whatsoever
yet they are absolutely precious to the family who want nothing more than
to have them returned. Please, if you are reading this appeal, then at
least have the courtesy to return these sentimental items to a police
station or to the family.

"I would also urge anyone who has seen these USB devices or has any
knowledge of their whereabouts to contact the West Didsbury Volume Crime
Team on 0161 856 6182 or the independent charity Crimestoppers,
anonymously, on 0800 555 111."