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Gran left hopping mad over theft

From the archive, first published Friday 19th Mar 2004.

A GRANDMOTHER is furious after thieves stole her purse while she held a car boot sale to pay off the vet's bill for her grandson's pet rabbit.

Valerie Chapman, from Pamber Heath, had laid the purse on top of her car while she set up her stall at Fort Hill Community School, in Winklebury, Basingstoke, on the morning of Saturday, March 6. She discovered it was missing after shoppers crowding around the boot caused her to become distracted.

She said: "I hope that whoever did this to me is pleased with themselves. I was doing the car boot sale to pay for my grandson's pet rabbit's vet's bill."

Mrs Chapman, 67, said the £17 cash in the stolen purse had been given to her by her grandson, Reuben Osterbry, 13, towards the £37 bill for Silver the rabbit's dental treatment. She had been holding the sale to pay off the rest.

"It's despicable behaviour," added Mrs Chapman, who was told by other participants at the sale that someone else's purse had also been stolen that morning.

She added: "I've cancelled my debit cards - not that the thief would get any money because I'm overdrawn. But I now have to pay out to get another driving licence and I also lost my donor card and library card and several important phone numbers that I had on a list in the purse."

Meanwhile, Reuben has been left feeling bad about what happened to his grandmother. "He was so annoyed and upset that he gave me another £5 towards the bill, out of his pocket money," said Mrs Chapman.

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