Nurse offers reward after late grandad’s watch stolen in Shefford burglary

A nurse from Shefford has offered a hefty reward for the return of her late grandfather’s watch after it was stolen by burglars.

Lisa Suthers is offering £300 for the return of her grandfather Frederick Moss’ engraved watch, which was taken in a burglary at her house in Clifton Road on Saturday.

Lisa and her boyfriend had been out that day from 8am until around 6.20pm – when they found one of the panels on the French doors at the back of the house had been smashed, with all of Lisa’s jewellery taken.

Lisa said: “I lost my grandad in 1997 when I was just 17. He has been gone a long time and that watch was the last thing that I had left of him, and now that’s gone.

“When you feel like a victim you just think ‘why me?’, ‘what have I done?’. It just feels really personal.”

The watch that belonged the Lisa’s grandad was given to him for 25 years of service at Vauxhall Motors in 1977, and is engraved with his first two initials and surname.

“At first I didn’t think we had been burgled because none of the high-tech stuff had been taken,” Lisa told the Comet.

“My boyfriend went upstairs into the bedroom and saw they had gone through everything – including my drawers and my wardrobe, which is where my jewellery box was. They’ve gone through all my underwear, all of my body lotions and things like that.”

The offenders also searched through the bedrooms of Lisa’s sons, aged five and 11, and smashed a money box belonging to one of them – but nothing was taken. She then noticed that the contents of her handbag had been emptied out onto the dining room table – but they still left having only taken jewellery.

Lisa – who works as a specialist palliative care nurse at Stevenage’s Lister Hospital – said: “Nobody saw anything. It amazes me that in broad daylight someone can enter your house. I will never get a lot of my jewellery back.

“The sentimental bits I will never replace. Things like the watch and the necklace that was my nan’s, and a bracelet my nan bought me – those things are gone. It’s just really sad and my plea is to get this watch back. I got it restored a couple of years ago and it was still in the box. It’s in immaculate condition.”

Natalie Peters, the investigating officer at Bedfordshire Police, said: “This incident is very upsetting for the victims due to the unique and very personal items stolen.

“As it happened on a weekend in a busy residential street, we are hoping someone might have seen something that will help our investigation.”

Anyone with any information should call Beds police on 101, quoting reference number JD/16977/2018.