11:20am Tuesday 6th January 2009
BURGLARS broke into homes in RAF Lyneham and stole expensive electrical equipment and priceless mementoes as personnel spent Christmas with their families.
Two married quarters in Eider Avenue were burgled with the thieves making of with a laptop, camcorder, televisions, mountain bike and cameras.
It was supposed to be a Christmas to remember for Thurston and Jenny Taylor as they celebrated the festive season with the latest addition to their brood – 11-month-old Matilda.
But the holiday was marred when callous thieves broke into their Lyneham home stealing a camcorder containing a disk with all their daughter’s precious first moments on it.
The RAF couple had taken Matilda and brothers Myles, two, and Angus, four, to visit relatives in Greater Manchester on Christmas morning.
When they returned to their home on Saturday they realised they had been burgled.
“Losing the disk with Tilly’s first moments on it is what hurt the most,” said Thurston. “That is the thing we want back more than anything.
“We lost our television, cameras, Xbox and camcorder but they can all be replaced – images of your child’s key milestones can’t be.”
The precious disk also contained footage of Angus’s nursery school nativity play.
Jenny said: “He really likes to watch it. So no doubt he’ll be upset when I say he can’t.”
The 29-year-old mum says she doesn’t feel as safe in her home anymore, knowing that someone has been inside the house.
“I had to clean everything and wash our sheets when I got back,” she said.
“I couldn’t stand the idea of some stranger wandering around touching our things. This is such a safe area and service families really look out for each other so you always feel secure.
“Someone has just taken advantage of the Christmas period and the fact that many of the families around here will have travelled to relatives for Christmas. It’s disgusting.”
Thurston – an RAF pilot – did a one-month tour of duty in Iraq last year.
He said: “It is bad enough leaving our wives and kids when we have to go away but when something like this happens it creates real cause for concern.”
Jenny added: “Our servicemen do a tough job and often fight for the very people who then go and steal from them - it’s awful.”
PC Jarra Brown, of Lyneham’s Community Police team, said: “Burglary of anyone is a terrible and devastating crime but when those you steal from risk their lives for their country and the people in it, it makes the crime all the more atrocious.
“This is the first instances of burglary in Lyneham for as long as I can remember and I hope it is the last.”
Anyone with any information or who has been offered the goods, should call the police on 0845 408 7000.
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