Grieving mother appeals to raiders to return mementos

The grieving mother of an army officer killed by the Taliban while serving in Afghanistan appealed today to thieves to return precious mementoes given to her by her son.

Captain David Patten, 38, died while serving with the special forces in Helmand province during the summer.

His mother Mary returned home from shopping last night to discover her home ransacked and a substantial amount of jewellery missing.

Among the items taken were pieces of jewellery given to her by her son - watches, necklaces, bracelets and earrings – together with the handwritten notes that accompanied each gift and which she had carefully kept.

Capt Patten, the father of three young children, was buried beside his father, who was a Major in the former Ulster Defence Regiment, in June.

His stepfather, Angus Gamble, said his wife was distraught by the robbery.

Speaking at their Coleraine, Co Londonderry, home he said: “This has just brought it all back to her. She had only gone back to work a couple of weeks ago after David’s death and now this happens.

“There were quite a few valuable items, gifts from her son, things I bought her.

“But it is the things David bought which are important to her, they are precious mementoes. There were handwritten notes to his mum he had included with the jewellery when he bought her a gift and which she had kept.”

Mr Gamble said his wife was too upset to talk, but added: “It’s very important to her to get things back, she is appealing to the people who stole them.”

He said they had driven to Ballymena on Saturday to buy presents for members of their family for what was always going to be a very difficult Christmas and returned home to discover the break-in.

The Police Service said a number of rooms in the house at Willowfield Avenue in Coleraine had been ransacked sometime before 8pm on Saturday.

They appealed for anyone who saw anything suspicious or who was offered jewellery in suspicious circumstances to contact them.