Pub’s burglars take money for baby op (From Southend Standard)
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Pub’s burglars take money for baby op
1:00pm Tuesday 25th September 2012 in News By David Trayner
Landlady Susan Griffiths was away when burglars broke into her bedroom
CASH raised to help fund a life-saving operation for a baby was among £10,000 stolen from a pub.
Thieves made off with the cash from the Melrose, in Westcliff , including £920 raised for Lily-Mai Murray, who needs a £50,000 operation after being born with a rare brain condition.
Landlady Susan Griffiths said: “It’s dreadful. I don’t know how to explain to her mum the money isn’t there.”
Burglars broke in through Mrs Griffiths’s bedroom window while she was away and smashed into the pub’s office as her pregnant daughter, Sarah, slept upstairs.
They took the donation, which was raised through a fun day at the pub, and the other cash from a locked filing cabinet.
Among the money stolen were the takings from Mrs Griffiths’s daughter Samantha’s card shop, Love & Kisses, which is opposite the pub in Hamlet Court Road .
Mrs Griffiths, who also works at the shop, had advised Samantha to keep the cash at the pub after Love & Kisses was the subject of an arson attack on Monday, September 10.
The thieves also took Sarah’s iPhone from the lounge upstairs.
Mrs Griffiths, who has been prescribed sleeping tablets to cope with the shock, said: “It’s going to be hard work trying to get back on top of things.
“I had to get credit for beer from the brewery and I couldn’t pay the rent last week.
“My kids are more than upset because they were on the premises.”
The burglars are believed to have got to the bedroom window across a flat roof from Burdett Avenue, behind the pub, between midnight and 9am on Friday, September 14.
Lily-Mai, from Chadwell St Mary, was born with vein of galen malformation, which affects the blood vessels in her brain and puts a dangerous strain on her heart.
The condition has left the tot blind and suffering a string of medical conditions, including cerebral palsy, water on the brain, sleep apnoea and epilepsy.
Anyone with information on the burglary can call 101.
Comments(12)
Cockle
says...
3:33pm Tue 25 Sep 12
perini wrote:Just what I was thinking.
Sounds like someone knew it was there! That's what banks are for!
To go away and leave £10k in the filing cabinet when there are two banks literally on the other side of the road seems a little careless. I know she should be able to do so but this is modern Britain.
EssexBoy1956
says...
3:52pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Alec Cikes
says...
4:25pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Rochford Rob
says...
4:36pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Not.
beyond the valley of the asbos
says...
4:52pm Tue 25 Sep 12
smile~like~you~mean~it
says...
5:52pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Almeda11
says...
7:35pm Tue 25 Sep 12
This IS the UK we are living in, not America, or some third world country!!.
j-w
says...
8:48am Wed 26 Sep 12
tatersalad
says...
10:23am Wed 26 Sep 12
Almeda11 wrote:I agree, my doctor recently told me that my asthma medication may be changed because its expensive ? it took 18 months to find a suitable inhaler. Private heath care in America is first class by the way.
l am more concerned to hear that private money is needed towards a life saving operation, whatever the cost!!
This IS the UK we are living in, not America, or some third world country!!.
Rochford Rob
says...
11:32am Wed 26 Sep 12
Almeda11 wrote:I beg to differ. Look at the recent picture of those queuing in London for the latest 'must have' iPhone or whatever it was.
l am more concerned to hear that private money is needed towards a life saving operation, whatever the cost!! This IS the UK we are living in, not America, or some third world country!!.
Or take a trip on the London Underground.
The NHS kill north of 130,000 people a year too. High time it was scrapped, us poor taxpayers given a refund to spend on Private Care and pocket the mahoosive amount left over.
j-w
says...
12:23pm Wed 26 Sep 12
perini says...
2:33pm Tue 25 Sep 12