FOUR rings have been removed from the hand of an invalid 90-year-old grandma, sparking an appeal for their safe return.

Police said that the items were taken from Margaret Houghton while she was bed-bound at either a nursing home in Clayton-le-Moors or while she was staying at Royal Blackburn Hospital.

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Her wedding ring was taken as well as engagement, eternity and friendship rings which were given to her by her late husband Allan who died in 2012.

Margaret has been staying at Hope House in Rishton Road since suffering a massive stroke on March 30.

The mother of two was visited by her family on Thursday, June 18, which was when the rings were last seen by them.

She was taken to hospital on Saturday, June 20, after her nasal feeding tube had become blocked, and returned to the home the same day.

Her family visited her again on Monday, June 22, when they noticed that the rings were missing.

The gran of three had been married to Allan for 64 years. She lived in Brinscall near Chorley for much of her marriage.

She stayed at a care home in Penwortham for two years before being transferred to Clayton-le-Moors for 24-hour care.

Her daughter Elaine Shuttleworth, 62, said: “The whole thing is incredibly distressing for us all.

“It is a horrible thing to have happened and I cannot understand why anybody might have done this.

“Since she had her stroke she has been looked after incredibly well.

“The staff are absolutely superb with her and it is a fabulous place.

“The care-home manager is absolutely beside herself and she cannot account for it.

“Nobody can believe that somebody has physically removed these rings from my mother’s hand.

“My mum is a lovely caring lady who never has a bad word to say about anybody.

“The rings did not have much monetary value but were hugely sentimental.

“I loath to use the word ‘stolen’ because I much prefer to think that somebody has taken them off and just made an honest mistake.

“The most important thing is that we get them back.”

PC Anna Gavela said: “It is a terrible thing to have happened to this very vulnerable and elderly lady.

“We are conducting general inquiries at the moment because we are not 100 per cent sure where the incident happened.

“Nobody is pointing the finger at anybody at this stage and we have no suspects.

“We are hoping that this will ring a bell with somebody and that we might recover the rings.

“The home has been complying fully with our investigation and they have been carrying out their own search and inquiry.”

A spokesman for Hope House said “ We are aware of the alleged theft of rings from a resident at Hope House.

“We have advised both the adult protection team and the police of this and we will cooperate fully with all investigations”.