Crime victims being ignored

The Second World War broke out when Bernard was 15. When he was old enough in 1943 he joined up with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. Pictures from the time show him fresh- faced and barely needing to shave.

Anne said: “I remember him telling me when his mum and dad took him to the train station for the war the conductor made a joke about them accepting school kids now because he looked that young.”

His regiment was deployed to India in 1944 and in 1945 they marched hundreds of miles into Burma, where the war with the Japanese was still raging.

Bernard saw comrades perish in the fierce heat and under sustained enemy fire as they fought a series of skirmishes with the Japanese.

He was one of hundreds of soldiers who took part in the famous crossing of the Irrawaddy river led by Field Marshal Sir William Slim.

Anne said: “He made it but somebody in the same dinghy was killed, so they had to cross the river with his body just lying there which I think he found very traumatic.” Suffering exhaustion, he was hospitalised then posted to the army’s leave centre in D a r j e e l i n g, wh e re he looked after the stores.

He arrived home from THE SUNDAY Post has led the way in unrivalled coverage of the misery of housebreaking since 2014.

Last year we launched the Safe in Our Houses campaign to get authorities to tackle the scourge.

Our reports on the devastating crime revealed the impact break-ins have on the lives of hard-working families, the elderly and vulnerable.

Shockingly, our investigations revealed how little was being done about an epidemic wreaking havoc across the country.

Every 26 minutes thieves break into homes and made off with treasured possessions, our research discovered.

But we found pitifully low clear-up rates by police.

In some areas, four in five housebreakers escape unpunished.

Out of an average of 56 break-ins a day just 14 are solved.

In Inverclyde North – where Bernard Duffy lived – just 16% of cases are cracked.

The problem comes as Police Scotland pumps resources into investigating other crimes like motoring offences.

The shocking state of affairs led us to demand a housebreaking crackdown – one we are re-iterating today.