Family’s £2k gifts ripped off
“When my mum had kids and got married, she got a house down there and, when she had more kids, they had to give her a bigger house so she got this four-bedroom.
“The whole family, everyone on this estate, had relatives living round the corner or down the road.”
Unmarried Mr Wright, one of 10 children, attended school nearby and went on to work at the Mobil Oil plant a short walk away from the old estate, which was built for dockers.
He bought the property more than 30 years ago under former prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy council house purchase scheme.
Wirral Council offered financial incentives for residents to leave, but he refused, and because there is no regeneration plan in place, the borough did not try to force him out.
Mr Wright has also put in a new kitchen, pebble-dashed the exterior and gave the house a bright yellow front door, which is flanked by two Union flags.
According to property website Zoopla, the house is worth £130,000 and saw its value rise by £6,000 during the past 12 months.
Claiming he never gets lonely, Mr Wright added: “I only have to walk up the road with the dog – everyone knows me and I know them.
“Half of them were estate, you see.” born on this THIEVES stole every Christmas present from a family and then fled, ripping open wrapping paper and discarding gifts they did not like.
Police said they took £2,000 of gifts in five large plastic bin liners, each with presents for members of the family, in the raid early on Christmas Eve.
The gifts included children’s toys, games, food, clothes and bathroom products and were in a spare bedroom in Jericho, Oxford.
WPC Rebecca Nightingale said: “Presents were opened and wrapping paper dropped in the street by the burglars.”
Police want to hear of anyone who had gifts they were not expected to have received.