A PENSIONER has hailed the return
of her stolen purse “a miracle.”
Audrey Chapman’s purse contained
precious photographs of her late husband and daughter when it was taken from
her handbag while she was shopping in Aldi, Newton Aycliffe, in October last
year.
The 84-year-old’s late husband
Siril, whom she was married to for 34 years, passed away in 2009 and Audrey’s
daughter Ondra died a year later. Audrey said: “When I realised that I would
probably never get the photos back, I was absolutely devastated.”
Now, the purse has been handed
into Bishop Auckland Police Station and returned to her on Friday (May 11).
Audrey said: “I was gobsmacked
and just so happy. It was like a miracle. My faith has been restored and I feel
like I have closure now.
“I want to say thank you to the
anonymous person who handed it in.”
PC Sarah Thompson of Durham
Constabulary, said: “Throughout the investigation, Audrey’s focus has always
been on the return of her photos as opposed to catching the offenders.
“If this had happened to my gran
then I’d want the police to do absolutely everything they could to help. We
searched high and low for her purse, in bins and around the local area to see
if it had been discarded by the criminals but to no avail.
“I was over the moon to be able
to give it back to her.”
Earlier this year, Audrey
nominated PC Thompson for a customer service award stating that she did not
expect the police to put so much effort into the investigation. The nomination
read: “I would like to say that I was very impressed with the level of care
shown by Sarah following the incident. I personally felt that she went over and
above in trying to identify the offenders. Thank you.”
Speaking of the ‘Wow! Award’, PC
Thompson said: “It was lovely to be nominated by Audrey and I am just so
pleased to close this chapter for her. She is a wonderful lady.”