Plea to thieves

By Jade Lawton
GOOD Samaritans who gave up their Sunday morning to weed Cardinia Creek were last month burgled during their good deed.
Thieves entered the Berwick home of Gordon and Mary Hughes on 26 July and took a number of items, including a precious family heirloom, a brass box given to Mr Hughes’s father by Princess Mary during World War I.
The thieves broke through a sliding door some time between 8.45am and 11.15am and took off with costume jewellery, a mobile phone, wallet, watches, jars containing silver coins, a rare 1963 American dollar that had been over stamped, and the brass box.
“On Monday we had a phone call from a lady in Cranbourne South. She had been out jogging and found my wife’s wallet, with the credit cards still in it, and some of the jewellery,” Mr Hughes said.
A search of the area found the empty bottles that stored the silver coins and a photograph that had fallen out of the wallet, but nothing else.
“The brass box is the one thing I’m particularly interested in.
“It was given to my father during the First World War, when all Commonwealth soldiers were given a box by Princess Mary.
“It had her profile embossed on the lid of a box and in each corner had places the army had been fighting, like Belgium and France,” Mr Hughes said.
“It is personal memorabilia that you just can’t replace.” Mr Hughes has since cancelled the plan on the still-missing mobile phone and checked the credit cards, which were not used.
The brass box contained only a greeting card and envelope that came with the box, but the thieves saw no value in the paper and left it in the drawer.
Mr Hughes has urged anyone who may have seen the distinctive brass box to contact the police.
“Please consider the historical and family importance the box has to us,” he said.
Anyone with information on the missing brass box can contact Senior Constable Thompson of Narre Warren police on 9705 3111.