By Joy Watters

A HEARTBROKEN Dundee woman yesterday appealed for the return of her young grandchildren’s Christmas presents, stolen through the night by housebreakers.

A tearful Jennifer Keenan said she was shocked that anyone could steal children’s presents, for which she and her husband had been saving for months, bought only hours earlier.

Yesterday morning Jennifer (50) and husband Ralph (51) awoke to find their Ardler home, which they share with nine-year-old grand-daughter Brogan, had been broken into.

Thieves had rifled through their belongings but targeted the children’s presents, wrapped in Christmas paper with gift tags clearly showing they were from granny and grandad.

Mrs Keenan, a dinner lady at Downfield Primary, and her husband, a zookeeper at Camperdown Wildlife Park, had been saving towards the children’s Christmas and spent every penny on them.

Jennifer shook her head as she recounted that usually she does all her shopping at the last minute but this year decided to get ahead of the game and do all the shopping on Saturday.

The couple took the opportunity of Brogan being away for the night to wrap the gifts—a Nintendo Wii and digital camera for the computer games fan.

There was also a large box of Transformers for grandson David (4) plus other presents for the pair.

Sister-in-law Cath Keenan, who lives next door, raised the alarm in the morning when she saw Jennifer and Ralph’s front door standing open.

Jennifer rushed downstairs and immediately saw the presents had gone from under the tree.

She was yesterday trying to come to terms not just with the trauma of housebreaking but the thought that people could steal from children at Christmas.

Brogan, a pupil at St Fergus Primary, had her own views on the thieves.

“Nobody has the right to go into anyone else’s house,” she said.

“They shouldn’t take presents for children.

“Even if they are poor they should go out and work to get money for presents, not steal other people’s.”

Jennifer’s sister Mrs Fiona Cook was comforting Jennifer.

“I am so angry, they are a hard-working couple who are trying to do their best and someone breaks in and steals children’s presents. How low can you get?

“They should know what they have done, leaving the children with nothing.”

The gifts are worth several hundred pounds, and anyone who saw any person acting suspiciously in the Scotscraig Crescent area overnight on Saturday is asked to contact the police.