Daughter upset after burglars steal urn with mum's ashes

Sophie Edmondson, 42, from Wicken, a village near north Buckinghamshire, was left devastated after burglars ransacked her garden office and snatched a hand-carved urn containing her mum Hannah’s ashes, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2017.

Chillingly, Sophie and her family were sleeping only 50 metres away from the scene of the crime, which happened between 1am and 3am on Saturday, October 28. 

The mum-of-four Sophie told the Bucks Free Press: “It’s really tough. It’s something you could never imagine would happen. The chances of us getting it back are very small, but I’m clinging onto that.”

Sophie and her mum Hannah pictured in 2017, the year Hannah passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer (Image: Sophie Edmondson)

The thieves, who were captured on CCTV outside the family home, left the annex, “in a mess” during just about six minutes it took them to raid it and leave, Sophie explained.

“It was a state after. So disrespectful. My four children’s memory boxes and items were scattered and thrown around.”

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Alongside the irreplaceable urn, the thieves tools and building materials, children's clothing, cleaning products, a vacuum and a TV, but also sentimental items like a locket with a bit of Hannah’s ashes in and a charm bracelet Sophie got from her mum when she was just seven-years-old.

Sophie said she “broke down” when she realised on Monday the ashes were missing after the police had visited and they could put things back together.

Heartbroken Sophie pleaded for the safe return of the bespoke urn (Image: Sophie Edmondson)

“I hadn’t let myself think they would take that,” she said.

The bespoke urn designed and commissioned by Sophie’s mum before her untimely death was hand-carved with a mouse on top, her and her husbands names and flowers, including Hannah's favourite, the bluebell. 

“She knew she was going to die. She was very brave thinking about every detail so we didn’t need to. We were incredibly close.

“I was pregnant with my daughter at the time. She died six weeks before she was born. We named her Hannah after my mum,” Sophie said.

A Northamptonshire Police spokesperson said: “Any burglary is distressing but the theft of something as personal as a loved one's ashes is truly awful. We're appealing to anyone with any information that could help us recover this urn to do the right thing and get in touch with us urgently.”

The hand-crafted bluebells and leaves on the urn (Image: Sophie Edmondson)

Anyone with information about the burglary or the whereabouts of the urn is asked to contact Northamptonshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111, and to quote incident number 23000673176 when getting in touch. 

The burglars, captured on CCTV, drove a long-wheel-based white van, believed to be either a Ford Transit or Mercedes Sprinter (Image: Sophie Edmondson)