Looters steal £30,000 from couple during Storm Babet flooding

• Video report by Katie Oscroft

A couple whose home has repeatedly flooded say looters stole £30,000 in lifesavings after they emptied their property to avoid further damage.

Phil and Dawn Henderson moved valuables including cash and gold into a motorhome from their bungalow in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, before Storm Babet hit.

But thieves broke into the vehicle in the early hours of 20 October and took their belongings.

Mr Henderson, who believes the looters watched them moving their valuables, said: I can cope with the floods, I've done it before.

"But being robbed and all our lifesavings and all our gold - [Dawn's] mum's gold, my mum's gold, everything went. All of my life I've worked to get a pot of money for my retirement and all that went in five minutes."

The couple, who run Ferryboat Farm Fisheries and have a site for camping and caravans, were wary of potential damage from Storm Babet following three previous incidents.

They moved their possessions after the Met Office issued warnings of heavy rain and flooding.

Their fears proved justified when water breached an embankment designed to protect the property and got into their home, damaging white goods and furniture.

"Once you have had a flood there's nothing to salvage because it's not just fresh water that comes through, it's sewage, silt and everything," Mr Henderson said.

The theft of their cash wiped out a £14,000 fund for a headstone for the couple's son Jay, who died last year.

Mr Henderson, who said he was planning to retire, said: "I've got to go to work to try to build back up what I had."

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