While a heartbroken family were saying goodbye to their mother and grandmother at her funeral, a burglar broke into her son’s house and stole the 94-year-old’s irreplaceable wedding rings.
Roy Gooding returned to his home on Ashcroft Road from the service at Seven Hills Crematorium, Nacton, at 9.20pm on Tuesday, to find his kitchen door window had been smashed and his house had been “turned upside down”.
A large amount of cash was taken along with his mother, Flossie Gooding’s jewellery, including her engagement and wedding rings.
The 60-year-old said: “It’s been a sad old week, my mum’s funeral, my house has been ransacked, rings have been pinched, it was not a good day.”
Flossie lived with her son Mr Gooding, who cared for her until she moved to a Monmouth Court Nursing Home five years ago.
He added: “I was more upset when I saw what had been taken than I was at the funeral.”
Many of the possessions in his house belonged to Flossie, and Mr Gooding said his mum had kept her jewellery in the same drawer for decades.
Flossie left behind her engagement ring for her granddaughter, Laura Copsey, to have for when she got engaged, and her wedding ring was paid for by her late husband, Ed Gooding’s war rationing points in the 1940s.
Miss Copsey, 31, who has been with her partner, Michael Cranny for 10 years, said: “When I heard Nan wanted me to have her ring, I thought maybe we should get married.
“It wasn’t something I expected to feel so strongly about, but hearing my Nan’s eulogy about her life and relationship with granddad made me realise that me and Mike are similar to them. I felt like the ring was meant to be for us.”
She said Flossie, who also has a daughter, Jessica Copsey, 58, was happily married to Ed until he passed away in 1989.
“Of all the days for it to happen and of all the things to go missing, it was something so precious to my mum and my uncle and me,” she added.
Flossie lived in Ipswich all her life and was brought up in a house in Lower Brook Street while her father worked at RW Pauls as head maltster.
Describing Flossie, Miss Copsey said: “She was probably the most selfless person I’ve ever met; she never shared a bad word about anybody and never complained. She was such a generous, loving, and thankful person and she really loved nature, she was a real Suffolk girl.”
Officers are investigating the break-in and theft of jewellery and cash which happened between 10am and 9.30pm on Tuesday.
Anyone with information about the stolen items is asked to contact the Ipswich Priority Crime Team on 101 quoting reference IW/15/1041.
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