A heartbroken Dundee mum has hit out at the callous thief who stole the only photograph of her late baby son.
Rose McInytre’s baby boy died just minutes after being born at Ninewells giving her just enough time to grab one cherished snap.
However, the memento was snatched by a thoughtless criminal when he broke into the 52-year-old’s Cobden Street home.
Rose told The Courier how, despite her terror, she bravely chased thief Alexander McLanders through the streets of Lochee after she disturbed the 30-year-old during the break-in.
However, she could not catch up with the offender, who made off with a sports bag containing cash, swimwear, a purse and band cards, plus jewellery and an ornament.
Most upsettingly, among the items in the bag was a framed colour photo of Rose’s baby son Patrick, who died minutes after being born 21 years ago. It was the only physical image she had of the infant.
In an even crueller twist, the photo was to be scanned that very afternoon to be placed on his grave an act that was Rose’s mother Ellen’s dying wish earlier this year.
After McLanders’ arrest, Rose made a heartfelt plea to the procurator fiscal service for the return of the precious photo. However, despite her other stolen belongings being recovered, there is no sign of the picture.
”This guy has my photograph,” she said. ”Why is he doing this to me?”
Serial housebreaker McLanders, a prisoner at Perth, was jailed for two years by Sheriff McClory on Tuesday after admitting several charges, including breaking into an 82-year-old woman’s house and stealing items and cash.
McLanders, who has about a dozen previous convictions for theft, also admitted stealing the bag, swimwear, toiletries, purse, quantity of cash, various personal cards including bank cards, an ornament and a quantity of jewellery from Rose’s house in Cobden Street in March.’He went away sniggering’Rose, who works for Tesco, said she felt the sentence had been too lenient and demanded answers from the authorities as to what has happened to her treasured photograph.
”I think he should have been really punished for this. Two years isn’t long enough,” she said. ”After he got sentenced, he went away sniggering.”
Rose said the day he broke into her house she had been out for a run and then opened her patio door to feed the birds in her back garden.
”I came back in and went upstairs and ran the shower, but I heard a noise downstairs and I thought maybe a cat had come in to get at my fish tank,” she said.
”When I came downstairs he was in the living room and he just ran out the back with my bag. I chased him through the streets into Lochee and got as far as St Mary’s School but I lost him.
”I just kept shouting to him to drop the bag, but he didn’t.’Mum’s dying wish'”I wasn’t worried about anything in the bag apart from my photograph. It was my mum’s dying wish that I got it scanned and put a copy on his headstone. She told me that the night before she died in February.
”I was told he was arrested and I wrote to the procurator fiscal and asked if I could have a face-to-face meeting with him. I thought maybe an older woman talking to him might work.
”I didn’t even know the bag had been found. I heard that in court on Tuesday, but they haven’t found the photograph? How can that happen? They haven’t even told me if I’m getting my stuff back yet.”
Rose says she has left no stone unturned in her efforts to get the photograph back, including asking around all the local pubs to see if anyone knows its whereabouts.
”I’ve also asked Ninewells staff if they can check back and see if there are any photographs in their filing cabinets from 21 years ago. They know my address at the time and they said they would check, but I don’t know if they will,” she added.
”I really hope it turns up. I’ve been off work ill since all this and it’s like delayed shock or something. I’m scared now in my house as I live alone and I have been busy securing the doors and locks.”