A South Norwood woman has made a desperate appeal for the return of films made of her mother just before she was killed in a tragic road

accident.

Burglars crept into Lydia Forte's Doyle Road home in the early hours of Monday, January 28 and stole the family camcorder complete with four home videos of her 77-year-old mother enjoying what was to be the final year of her life.

Lydia's mother, Lina, suffered a brain haemorrhage when she was knocked down by a car in Beckenham on December 5 last year, and later died on December 10.

Lydia, 47, told the Croydon Guardian how she, her 50-year-old partner, Richard, and her daughter Evi, seven, have been dealt a series of traumatic blows over the last few months, including a serious illness which nearly killed Richard as well as a separate car accident.

Lina's death also came just one week before Evi's seventh birthday, and Lydia was forced to reschedule the funeral.

She said: "It has really been awful, and now we are missing the only footage of my mother at family birthdays and other happy occasions.

"She was a very healthy, lively woman and her death was such a terrible shock, we just want the videos back, no questions asked."

Burglars walked into the house through a door while the family slept upstairs.

But fearful of waking the family dog Sadie who was asleep in the lounge, they left, stopping to add a CD player Lina had bought Evi for her birthday, to their collection.

Contact the Croydon Guardian anonymously on 020 8645 8820 if you know where the tapes are.