Wellington News

Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

PC Angela Leech, who is based at Malinsgate Police Station, has spoken of her amazement after two generous members of the public came forward to offer money and belongings to a 44-year-old man who was the victim of a burglary in Brookside back in February.

The victim was burgled on Saturday 6th February and the thieves responsible completely ransacked his flat and stole almost all his possessions – most of which he had saved up for for some time. Touched by his plight PC Leech had successfully applied for a donation from the Police Community (PC) Fund who donated £250 to the man to help him get back on his feet.

PC Leech takes up the story: “I was touched by the man’s story and was pleased that the PC Fund was able to donate some money to him to help him start to rebuild his life. The story about our donation was picked up by a local paper and incredibly, within three days of the story being published, two separate people had called in to say they’d like to help the man themselves.

“The first call came from a man in Randlay who contacted us via the local press and stated he had a quantity of unwanted bedding and household goods he’d like to offer to the victim, as well as two portable televisions that he could give to the man to replace the ones he’d had stolen. The man – who did not want to be named – said he now had no use for the items and would be really happy to hand them over to the burglary victim for him to make use of.

“Soon after we received a call from another man, this time from North Telford, who stated he’d also been touched by the story he had read and said that he’d like to match the donation from the PC Fund and give the burglary victim £250 from his own pocket. Again, this man did not want to be identified or take any glory for his donation, he just felt he wanted to help and was in a comfortable position financially and could do so.

“Both men have since made their donations and at the end of last week I handed the burglary victim the items donated by the man from Randlay and the cheque from the North Telford man. I cannot tell you quite how taken aback he was by the generosity of these two individuals and although he was almost lost for words, he did ask me to pass on his thanks to the two men who made the donations.

“I have to say that personally I was also really surprised to get the calls from the two men but it really has left me feeling that the world isn’t such a bad place after all. We do get to deal with some quite unpleasant things as police officers but the generosity displayed in this story has made me realise that there are a lot of good people out there and that we must always remember that when we’re feeling a little bit negative about things.

“I’d like to thank the two men who felt able to make these donations to the burglary victim – I felt his was a case that was a little out of the ordinary and the donations have certainly helped restore his faith in humanity as well as improve my own.”