Heartbroken son offers reward after late dad's ring stolen in terrifying Doncaster raid

A ring belonging to Rich Smith’s late dad Dennis was among the items taken in a raid on a house in Town Moor – and he and partner Becky Fowler are now offering up a £300 reward for the return of the ring which they say is of huge sentimental value.

The couple’s two cars were also taken, along with a PS$ gaming console.

Said Becky: “This is the only thing my partner has left of his dad who actually took it off his own finger and gave it my partner when he was dying telling him he wanted him to have it now as they’ll be ‘making a bonfire of me soon.’

"That was actually his words. He died nine years ago and it’s heartbreaking seeing a man so broken.

“We’ve been to every jewellers and cash place that we can think of asking and posting the picture but nobody has had it and I just fear that every day that passes we are less and less likely of ever getting it back.”

The raiders struck at the couple’s home in Manor Drive in the early hours of last Monday morning.

The thieves got in through a window and also took both the couple’s cars – a black Audi A4 and a Volkswagen Golf as well as a PlayStation belonging to Becky’s son Dylan, 12.

She said: “The ring is of no value and you’d only get £20 maybe £30 selling it. We think it’s most likely to be weighed in as scrap rather than be sold as a ring as nobody would want to buy it really as it’s an old mans ring.

"It can never be replaced.”

They believe the thieves took the first car at around 2am and then returned an hour or so later for the second – with Becky watching them drive off.

She explained: “The first time I heard them which is more annoying, but obviously not realising at the time it was my car being taken.

"After that, I wasn’t fully asleep and then a while later there were so many different noises and two in particular were really loud and these were from in the house.

"It prompted me and Rich to jump out of bed at the same time and we both went to the bedroom window and looked out through the blinds and I was saying “he’s in your car, he’s driving your car”

"And then Rich said to me 'erm, Becky where’s your car?’ and all I could see was this obvious empty space where my car was parked and I knew straight away that I’d listened earlier to my own car being nicked."

“We went downstairs and Rich noticed the front door was propped open by both of my trainers. We went into the front room and saw then that it was the window they’d got in the house and then we noticed Dylan’s PS4, which is white with a blue controller, was gone.

"Rich had removed his ring that night as he always does at night and it was on the window sill. It was just because it was there they took it.”

And as the couple went outside to investigate the car thefts, the pair heard a car coming down the street.

She added: “It was only my car coming back to what we can only assume was to finish the job and clear the house, which is why they’d held the door open with my shoes.

"He saw us and Rich tried to stand in the road with his hand out and he floored the car, driving like an absolute maniac nearly knocking us both off our feet and screeched past us speeding off towards Town Fields.”

The stolen Golf was later found abandoned in Denaby a few days later following a collision with a lorry, with the driver fleeing the scene.

She added: “The cars and PS4 are not important though – as bad as the situation is, they can be replaced and sorted but it’s the ring that’s the most upsetting in all this and it’s of the least value money wise.

"Dennis was Richs idol and we’re offering a £300 reward to anyone who can give us that ring.

"We’d give every penny we have for that ring just to be back.”

Anyone with information can contact Becky on 07914166390.