A MARRIED couple have been left devastated after brazen thieves escaped with nearly everything they own in a raid on a Ropley farm. Elizabeth and Michael Phillips had been storing up to £20,000 of their possessions, including furniture and keepsakes, in a massive storage container on the farm in Bighton Hill while they waited to move to a new home. But when the couple, who celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this year, visited the farm recently they found that the 21 feet cast-iron storage container had been stolen. Mrs Phillips, of Appledown Close, Alresford, said: "It is 40 years of my married life in there - everything you collect in 40 years. Now we've got nothing to show for it. "There's all my furniture apart from my beds in that lockup, ornaments, glassware, a brand new washing machine and a hoover that has only been used a couple of times, dinner sets, tea sets, photos of my children - everything really. "I used to breed dogs so I have got trophies in there too. "Luckily enough the last time we went out there I got a box out with a lot of photographs in it, so at least they didn't get those." The storage container, described as rusty-red in colour, had been at the farm since spring 2004 after the couple moved from their home in Midhurst to their present two-bedroom rented house. "My son, Jason, was renting here before us but when he got married he moved and we took over the place," Mrs Phillips, a part-time cleaner, said. "The house has got furniture in it so we couldn't bring ours in, but as soon as we had a council house we were going to take our furniture out of the lockup. "The farm belongs to friends of my son, so they said we could keep it there until we moved. The lockup was kept round the back of the barns there - you couldn't see it from the road." Witnesses have told police that they saw a gang of men loading the storage container on to a low loader, but because it was during the daytime, they did not think anything of it. Mrs Phillips, 57, had this message for the thieves: "Please bring it back or let me know where it is. If they let me know where it is, I'm not going bring charges against anyone, as long as I get it back." Police in Alton are investigating the theft and are appealing to anyone who witnessed the theft or has since seen a storage container matching the description of that stolen to come forward. Pc Clive Brown, who is leading the investigation, said: "The couple are absolutely distraught, apart from the monetary value, it is all their personal possessions - their life was in that container. "We have got statements from witnesses who saw a gang of men come up and load it up on to a low loader but because it was during the day they thought it was bona fide. "The last time the couple checked was at the end of March and about three weeks ago they went back and it was gone. "It would have taken two to three hours for these guys to load it on to the low loader and take it away. We would appeal to anyone who saw anything to speak to us." Anyone with any information is urged to call Pc Clive Brown at Alton Police Station on 0845 045 45 45 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
