A devastated pensioner says his Christmas is ruined after callous burglars ransacked his home and stole his car – after helping themselves to his MINCE PIES.
Dennis Dunstan, 70, woke to find thieves had broken into his flat through his kitchen window before swiping thousands of pounds worth of valuables.
They stole £150 from his wallet, a laptop, a digital camera and drove way from the property in his £5,000 Smart car.
But before they fled the scene the festive thieves cheekily delved into Dennis’ fridge and made off with three mince pies he had prepared for Christmas Day.
The retired builder said he was furious when he found not only his belongings missing – but also a plate of crumbs in his fridge.
Dennis, from Nottingham, fumed: “I woke up at 9am the next day and realised what had happened.
“Then I checked my wallet, which I left on the table but it was above a cabinet, and it had £150 stolen from it.
“I started checking everything and noticed what they had taken and then when I randomly looked in the fridge, I don’t know why I did, but I saw they had raided that too.
“I had three mince pies in there on a plate and they ate them and I had a can of shandy which they drank as well.
“For them to take my belongings, my car and laptop is one thing but it is just a complete cheek to steal my food too.
“It has ruined Christmas for me – I’ve been left with nothing and I can’t even enjoy a mince pie.
“Mince pies are my favourite thing about Christmas Day, it is a tradition of mine and I can’t even do that now.
“But you’ve got to get on with things and not let it get you down.
“I don’t think they will be getting a visit from Santa this year if they’re making off with all his mince pies.”
Nottinghamshire Police are now investigating the break-in which happened on December 13.
Officers found Dennis’ car had been abandoned nearby but the rest of his belongings are still missing and no arrests have been made.
Dennis added: “They need to be caught. I am a pensioner and to think they were in my flat while I was asleep is scary, they could have done anything to me.
“It isn’t nice to not feel safe in your own home and the fact all this happened just before Christmas makes it worse.
“You feel helpless though, if they would have woken me I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
“I told my friends about what happened and they were shocked, I am just glad I wasn’t physically hurt, this could have been so much worse than what it was.”
A spokesman for Nottingham City Homes, who run the flats where Dennis lives, said: “We were very sorry to hear about the burglary.
“As a result of the comments about security we will be sending out members of staff to see if anything else can be done to make the scheme more secure.”
Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
