Family's desperate plea as dad's ashes stolen from Bury garage

A wife whose husband's ashes were stolen from a garage says she feels like she has "lost him for a second time".

Nigel Hill's ashes were stolen from the family home on Brandlesholme Road in Bury, Greater Manchester, on 19 September.

His family had planned to eventually scatter the ashes at nearby Woodbank Cricket Club, where he was a much-loved odd job man, but have been left "devastated and heartbroken" after they were taken.The ashes, in a mint green-coloured box inside a burgundy coloured tote bag, were taken alongside a number of expensive power tools. But the family say they only care about the ashes being returned.

Nigel died aged 72 in January. His daughter Sarah said her mum called her and told her "your dad is gone" after discovering the garage door had been prised open.

"My mum opened the side door and the first thing she noticed was my dad's ashes had gone," Sarah said.

"Under the workbenches some power tools have also gone missing from locked cabinets that had been prised open.

"We don't know if they [the thief] looked in the bag or not. It was a rectangular light green box in a burgundy bag that we had picked up from the funeral directors. Every time I went into the garage I would say 'hi dad'.

"We are just absolutely lost for words. My mum called me and I could tell in her voice something wasn't right. She said, 'your dad's gone'.

"He was such a much-loved member of the community and everybody knew my dad in the area."

In a fresh appeal on Monday 23 October, his wife Susan pleaded for anyone with information to come forward.Susan said: "Nigel’s ashes were in a mint green coloured box, inside a burgundy coloured tote bag. Nigel spent the majority of his time in the garage, he was a passionate handyman who would turn his hands to absolutely anything and loved spending time at his workbench."When we received Nigel’s ashes, we decided as a family that we would place them on his wooden workbench in the garage, as this is where he loved to be, and where he was his happiest.

"One of Nigel’s last wishes was that he wanted to have his ashes scattered at Woodbank Cricket Club."A place which held a special place in his heart, he loved spending time here. As a family, we decided that we would wait until the cricket season was over to scatter Nigel’s ashes, and now the season is over, we cannot fulfil his wishes as someone has stolen them from us."I am appealing to the local community and the people of Bury, and I ask that anyone with any knowledge of this crime come forward with information.

"There must be someone who knows or has any information about this."I am not interested in the return of the power tools, all I want is for my husband’s ashes to be returned to us, so as a family we can fulfil his last wish and lay him to rest.

"I have already lost my husband, and now I have lost him for a second time."

Greater Manchester Police have said it is now investigating the 'unacceptable' theft and is appealing for any local residents or businesses with CCTV.

PC Rhian Toland of GMP's Bury division, said: "This behaviour is totally unacceptable and we will work hard to find out the full circumstances and hopefully find the victim’s family ashes so we can return them to her.

"As you can imagine, the victim has been left terribly upset her home has been broken into and the ashes of her dad have been taken.“I would like to urge anyone who may have information regarding the burglary, or has witnessed anyone acting suspiciously in the area, to make contact with us immediately so we can follow these line of enquiry and find out the full circumstances of this incident."

• Anyone with any information should contact police on 101, quoting incident number 2738 of 19/9/2023. Information can also be shared with the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.