I WOULD like to address this to the sneak thief who burgled my house on Thursday, July 5, at about 3pm while I was at home.

I had returned home from work at about 1.30pm and went into the lounge for a few moments before going into the kitchen to catch up with some paperwork.

It was a beautiful day - the front door was open and the vestibule and lounge doors closed. My car was in the drive and music was playing in the house.

Shortly after 3pm I went into the lounge to put some coins in a large glass jar. I discovered that various items had been stolen, some of which were quite valuable.

Most upsetting, however, was that this sneak thief had stolen the contents of the jar which had been collected over a period of several months not only by myself, but friends and their children, even a four-year-old, and other decent, hard-working people. This money was part of an effort by these people to raise £2,500 in order to buy a guide dog for the blind. Fortunately, it seems that this thief left fingerprints on the jar and in the lounge, so he may well still be caught.

Since I was last burgled some years ago, I installed an alarm, floodlighting, locking windows and internal locking doors, which I use when I leave the house. It seems that I now have to use these devices when I am inside the house.

By now, my own possessions will have been sold for next to nothing to satisfy some addiction or other, and the £140 or so in coins spent.

I will have to live with losing my own possessions, but I find it hard to accept that this thief has deprived not me, but someone else far worse off than himself of the chance to a better quality of life.

PHIL SHAW, Pleckgate Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.