Sheffield daughter's message to burglars who stole her parents' £30,000 life savings

A heartbroken daughter whose parents had their life savings stolen by burglars while they were on their last holiday together has invited the thieves to her dad's funeral "to see the devastation they have caused for themselves".
Bryan and Jean Dyer.Bryan and Jean Dyer.
Bryan and Jean Dyer.

Angela Straw said her dad Bryan Dyer, 87, and mum Jean, 86, were on holiday in Malta when thieves broke into their home and stole a briefcase containing more than £30,000 cash, their wills, pensions, deeds and insurance policies.

The incident happened at the couple's home on Burncross Road, Chapeltown, on December 12 and just three weeks later Mr Dyer was admitted to hospital in Malta with a blood clot on his leg.

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While treating him medics in the resort of St Julian's Bay found a cancerous tumour in his bowel and he died in hospital on the Mediterranean island on Tuesday, January 16 .

Mrs Straw said: "They had already decided it was the last holiday they were having because of their age.

"They found the blockage in his bowels had spread to his lymph nodes and they said they needed to get him home as soon as possible.

"They told me that on Saturday, January 13, and everything was fine but then on the Sunday they said the blood from the injections he was having had spread and caused a bleed on his lungs.

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"He died in the early hours of Tuesday morning. He went from fit and healthy to dead in a fortnight - it's heartbreaking."

Mrs Straw said the burglars broke into the home in the early hours of December 12 by taking the kitchen window out before ransacking through the home and stealing the briefcase.

"They have taken everything. My mum and dad have scrimped and saved their working life and the money has always been their emergency fund for if anything happened to either of them and now my mum has come home to nothing," she said.

"They'd been married for 62 years and they bought the house when it was brand new. They've never lived anywhere else and never been burgled before but my mum is absolutely broken.

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"She is terrified they will do it again and all of their plans they had have gone now. She is partially sighted too and was totally reliant on my dad.

"We would like to invite whoever is responsible for the burglary to attend my dad's funeral and see for themselves the devastation caused by their actions."

Former heating engineer Mr Dyer was a granddad-of-five and a great granddad-of-three.

A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said a property on Burncross Road was burgled sometime between 4pm on December 11 and 7.30am on December 12.

Anyone with any information should call police on 101, quoting crime reference number 14/13738/17.