'Burglar stole our memories' (From Oxford Mail)

'Burglar stole our memories'

11:50am Friday 22nd March 2013 in News

A FATHER-of-two is offering a £500 reward after a laptop holding “irreplaceable” family memories was stolen by a burglar.

Headington resident Simon Anthony lost hundreds of digital photographs when his computer was taken from his Trinity Road home last week.

He has promised to pay anyone the cash reward if they can help police arrest the culprit and return the computer containing pictures from his two daughters’ birthdays, family Christmases and holidays.

One of his children, eight-year-old Rosie, was so upset by the theft she drew a picture showing what had been taken and the burglar behind bars.

Retired Mr Anthony believed the silver Sony laptop would not have been worth much to the thief, but said: “It is something that is irreplaceable to us.

“It’s awful because it is something that has absolutely no use to someone else.”

The thief also stole about £150 in cash raised at a cake sale by Mr Anthony’s wife Sue, Rosie and other daughter Juliet, six.

The money was to be donated to the Helen and Douglas House Hospice.

Mr Anthony said: “They took whatever they could grab hold of without thinking of the consequences.”

The family returned from a choir concert at Headington Preparatory School on Wednesday, March 13, to find their home of six years had been burgled.

Mr Anthony, 55, said police told him the back door had been unlocked by someone who had reached through the catflap.

He said: “I went inside and immediately saw my laptop was missing.

“The children were obviously alarmed about it and did not sleep that night.”

He said six bottles of Champagne were taken and a backpack to carry the loot.

The father said he now felt “nervous” after the burglary, adding: “It makes you feel very vulnerable and threatened. It makes you worry for the safety of your family.”

He said they would now always set the burglar alarm and had blocked the catflap.

Mrs Anthony, 47, said: “There are a couple of holidays that have gone forever. We have no photographic memory of them. It just makes you very frightened it could happen again.”

The crime happened between 3.45pm and 5.15pm.

PC Laura Mabbott, from Oxford police station, said: “This type of offence causes destruction, misery and anxiety which go well beyond the items that one can replace.”