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Anne Smith, right, was with her mother, Ellen Plester, when her handbag was snatched by thieves |
Thieves take phone from wheelchair user
Family’s anguish as mobile with photos of cancer victim is taken
CRUEL thieves who stole a handbag from a blind woman’s wheelchair escaped with a mobile phone containing precious pictures of a cancer victim who died on Tuesday.
Anne Smith, who lives in Tufnell Park Road, Holloway, lost pictures of her terminally ill son-in-law Paul Gascoine when the thieves stole her handbag on Saturday – four days before he died.
Ms Smith fell victim to the thieves when she was visiting her 87-year-old mother in Camden.
She took her mother, Ellen Plester, who is blind and suffers from vascular dementia, out for some fresh air in Camden High Street and hung her handbag on the back of Ms Plester’s wheelchair.
When she stopped to look at a catalogue in Argos, thieves managed to whip her bag off the chair without her noticing.
It was only when she went into the next shop that she discovered her bag – containing keys, cards, cash and her precious mobile phone – was missing.
Ms Smith said: “My phone had lots of important pictures. What upset me is we took one of Paul and Ellie, my granddaughter, two weeks ago, just before he died.
“I didn’t care that he looked ill, it was of him and Ellie. I had so many pictures of my grandchildren. There were pictures of Paul in my house at Christmas that I took after he was diagnosed in September.
“They were pictures I wanted not because we thought he was dying but because we were told at that time he had the all-clear.
“What they’ve done and how they target people should be brought to light. I thought having a bag on a wheelchair was safe as houses. I was just numb and couldn’t believe it was gone.
“I visit my mum in St Pancras Hospital every day. I always take her to the new Eurostar building, but this time I didn’t, I said ‘we’ll have a little walk up to Camden’. I’m never going up to Camden again.”
Although the manager at Argos immediately helped Ms Smith look over CCTV images, the cameras failed to show the thieves.
Ms Smith added: “We’ve had a spate of bad luck. My daughter, Kim ,lost her Tiffany bracelet on the bus a couple of weeks ago – it was the last thing Paul bought her for their anniversary.
“Four months ago he looked 100 per cent. Only in the last four weeks he went from a young man to an old man.
“Seeing a boy of 39 in his prime dying is awful. He was such a beautiful person. I miss him. I absolutely adored my son-in-law.” |
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