A Telford couple have been left devastated after thieves took 16 years’ worth of garden ornaments collected in memory of their daughter.

Michele and Samuel Speers, of Coronation Drive, Donnington, created the garden as a tribute to their daughter Bridie, who died of cerebral palsy in 1993, aged two.

Now raiders have taken items including a large sandstone figure of a girl on her knees and a grey stone angel.

Michele Speers said everything in the garden, including the plants, reminded her husband and their three other children of Bridie who would have been 18 in July.

She said: “We called it Bridie’s garden. All the ornaments were bought by me or my husband or other family member for Bridie’s birthdays and other special dates in her life.

“Everything, even little things have been taken. The only thing not taken was the fountain because it’s too big.

“But a little girl on top of it has. That’s how we noticed. My husband said, it looked like someone had tried to take it but then he said ‘never mind that, what about the rest of it’ and we realised the garden had been cleared.

“These ornaments will be worthless to sell, but they meant everything to us. We were going to do something really big for her 18th but it would just feel like starting all over.”

The raiders struck between Thursday morning and Saturday afternoon.

Other items taken include a white stone birdbath with angels on the base, a grey stone cherub, a grey stone angel with a child, a black stone fairy, a brown stone pot with candle and verse, and a mix of other stone angels and cherubs.

Telford Police spokeswoman Denise Wakefield said: “The victim is extremely distressed by the theft and is desperate to get the ornaments back.

“If you have any information about the theft – whether you saw anything suspicious around the time of the theft, or whether you have been offered such items for sale – we would like to hear from you.”

Police at Telford can be contacted on 0300 333 3000 or information can be passed on confidentially through Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

By Catherine Roche