Thieves steal elderly man's stamp collection

Thieves have broken into the home of a 95-year-old man in Solihull and stolen a stamp collection which he began as a boy in the 1930s. The collection, which was taken from a house in the Sharman's Cross area of Solihull whilst the man was out, comprises more than 10,000 stamps including British first day covers and around 4,000 unused stamps from the 1970s.

Although the collection is not believed to be valuable, the victim of the theft, who told police he wished to remain anonymous, has called the stamps his 'life's work'. His daughter Elizabeth Styles said: 'He wasn’t a stamp dealer he just loved collecting them and would spend hours browsing through his catalogues and arranging the stamps – they gave him a huge amount of pleasure and he’d much rather flick through the collection than watch TV.

'Speaking to him after the break-in he said "they’ve taken my life’s work" – the stamps meant that much to him and he would be overjoyed beyond any imagination if he could get them back.'

Detective Constable Lucinda Wilson who is dealing with the case added: 'We've made inquiries with local dealers and antiques stores and are particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have been offered all or part of the collection for sale.

'There are thousands of stamps in the collection but it's not worth a vast amount of money and, of course, there's a very limited market available for those responsible to try and sell them on.

'The victim is truly devastated at losing his stamp albums so we're also asking the people who took them to do the decent thing and return them.'

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact Crimestoppers on tel: 0800 555 111.

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