Designer Patricia is back in business after raid

About 40 gowns were stolen when the front door of Patricia Couture in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, was hammered through during a raid last January.

Studio owner Patricia Onions has now decided to reopen after a year she described as a "total nightmare". She threw open her doors last night to guests to celebrate the relaunch with a glass of champagne. She said: "We've been closed for a year. It's been really hard to get it open again but I am delighted now."

The grandmother-of-two, aged 63, said that after last January's burglary, she also fell victim to flooding, which eventually forced her to replace the staircase inside the business.

That was made worse by negotiations with insurers and risk assessors, which dragged on due to wrangling over security measures that would be sufficient for the business, but also took account of the unusual layout of the building in Lower Green.

She added: "All the security had to be bespoke because it's an unusual building, and all those discussions and negotiations with companies to make the stuff, after speaking to the insurers, took time, and there was only me to do them."

When burglars struck, half of their haul was from Mrs Onions's couture range, which she had painstakingly designed to show off her range of talents to customers over 15 years and which would have fetched more than £2,500 each.

She said replacing that collection remained an ongoing project, adding: "I've had to find the means to replace them including waiting for insurers to replace the fabrics needed and actually doing the work. I'm trying to catch up on 15 years of work, and that's not going to happen overnight. It's been an absolute nightmare year but I am delighted we're open again and back."

After raiders smashed their way into the boutique, Mrs Onions initially feared for the future of the business. The mother of five was alerted to the raid when two officers visited her at home.

When she arrived at her studio, she found the front door had been smashed in.

Dresses had been left strewn across the road. The couture range dresses were used to showcase her design talents at fashion shows and wedding fairs all over the country. Despite what happened, she said she felt fortunate dozens of dresses she was still working on for brides' orders were not taken and were locked away elsewhere.