Charity mum’s car trashed and campaign kit stolen
WOMAN WHO LOST SON TO DROWNING HAS PROPS USED IN SCHOOL TALKS TAKEN IN BREAK-IN
A MUM who lost her son in a drowning tragedy has told how ‘mindless’ thieves ransacked her car and stole life-saving kit.
Beckie Ramsey was visiting Manchester on Monday night to watch Dappy play at the O2 Ritz.
The tickets were a Christmas present for her 15-year-old daughter Annie.
The pair stayed outside the venue after the show in the hope of meeting Dappy and didn’t get back to their car in the NCP car park on Oxford Street until after midnight.
They immediately realised it had been broken into.
“As soon as we opened the door, my daughter said ‘we’ve been robbed,’” said Beckie. “The car was just trashed.”
The break-in caused extra upset for Beckie because she lost her 13-year-old son Dylan in a drowning accident in 2011.
It prompted her to launch the ‘Doing It For Dylan’ charity and she now campaigns on open water safety and visits schools to tell Dylan’s story and carry out demonstrations.
A large amount of equipment and props was in the car and some had been stolen.
There was also a large picture of Dylan which fortunately was not taken, but had been damaged.
“My daughter was quite upset,” said Beckie.
“Her first reaction was about the picture of her brother, she thought it had been stolen and didn’t want to look in the boot in case it was missing.
“I was telling her ‘it’s a picture, we can get it replaced.’ “I’m thankful it wasn’t taken.” Also among the missing items were precious letters from schoolchildren Beckie received after she had visited them.
“That’s my inspiration before I go in,” said Beckie.
“That’s the hardest thing I’ve lost”.
Greater Manchester Police has apologised after Beckie was told there would be ‘no further investigation’ after she reported the incident.
But the case has since been reopened and Beckie hopes whoever took the props would realise they were worthless.
A JustGiving page set up by a Good Samaritan has already reached more than £1,000 in donations.
“The response from people has been fantastic”, added Beckie.