A woman has been left heartbroken after thieves ransacked her home and nicked a precious ring containing her dead father’s ashes.
Rosie Gallagher has hit out at the “scumbags” who broke into her flat and bagged thousands of pounds worth of jewellery, cash and goods.
But she has been most upset by the theft of a heart-shaped ring which contained the ashes of her father, Jim Gallagher, who died in 2015.
The thieves left a trail of destruction at Rosie’s home in Greenock, Inverclyde, and even smashed up her wardrobe and bed during the raid last Wednesday (24 January).
And to add insult to injury, they nicked her spare car key, made their way up to her workplace and then drove off with her black BMW X3 sports car which contained her handbag.
Rosie, 47, who works as a school bus driver, says she has been left sickened.
She said: “These people are absolute scum. The worst thing is that they stole the ring which had my dad’s ashes inside.
“It’s in the shape of a heart and lets you put a loved one’s ashes inside. I got it after he died in 2015. I will never get it back. It just kills me.
“They have not got a conscience.
“I’m absolutely disgusted by it. If they wanted to hurt and leave me in fear, anger and sadness, then they’ve succeeded.”
Rosie’s ordeal unfolded when she left her third floor flat to go to work on the afternoon of Wednesday 24 January.
She said: “They watched until I left to pick the kids up from school to break in, wreck and steal everything – including my dad’s ring, which is killing me.
“They also took our nice BMW which we bought when I lost my dad.
“We have worked hard for all our nice things so they should pat themselves on the back because if they wanted to hurt and leave me in fear, anger and sadness then they’ve succeeded.
“These lowlife jealous scum steal from folk that have to get up every morning and go to work. My heart is broken.
“They must have been watching me as once I’d left to go to the bus garage, that’s when it happened.
“I got a phone call from one of my neighbours just after I’d dropped the kids off telling me that the house had been broken into.”
Rosie said she was horrified to discover the thieves had stolen her car from her workplace.
She added: “It’s hard to believe they got my spare car key from the room in my flat and went up to Wilson’s garages when nobody was in at the time and stole my car; which had my handbag in it.
“The police said my car was last seen at about 3.20pm taking the cut off to the Erskine Bridge.
“Some of the coach drivers said they also saw my car speeding near Kingston Dock, but they assumed it was mechanics behind the wheel.”
Other items taken during the raid included Euros, an iPad, phone, Samsung tablet and all of Rosie’s jewellery.
She added: “I’m absolutely disgusted by it. I think they know who I am, and that’s what makes it worse.
“I’m so angry about it.”
Rosie said that through her ordeal, kind messages from well-wishers have kept her spirits up.
She added: “The amount of folk who have messaged me has been lovely.”
Anyone with information about the break0in is urged to phone Greeenock police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800555111.
