Thieves ransack home in £10k raid as family celebrates wedding

The devastated Raja family, who live in Slater Street, Darlaston, had spent Wednesday night in Telford celebrating a family wedding but when they returned they discovered thieves had broken into their home.

Sirah Raja described her horror as she opened her door to find clothing strewn across the floor, with the family barely able to move as they entered.

Her husband Raja Abdul Haneef said he has had ‘no sleep’ since discovering items he had worked hours of overtime in his job as a factory worker to purchase were taken as he enjoyed what he called ‘the best wedding’.

Mrs Raja said: “All of the gold my husband has worked so hard to buy for our daughter has been taken, we are devastated.

“I have spent all night crying and feeling guilty, I wish we would have taken the gold to her for her wedding.”

The family had planned to welcome the bride home on Thursday and then hand over her gifts.

She continued: “This was supposed to be her big present and our celebration of her getting married, but it has been taken from us.

“They have also stolen cash and the house was in such a mess that even a day later we still haven’t actually got to the bottom of what has been taken.

“The whole family is in shock.

“If anyone saw anything on Wednesday night please tell the police.

“We don’t think we will get our stuff back but these people need to be caught.”

Mr and Mrs Raja, who have two sons and three daughters, have lived in the house for 29 years and say nothing like this has happened to them before.

Mrs Raja said: “It is a nice community round here I just don’t understand why this has happened.”

Her husband said: “I have had no sleep, no one in the family has.

“It was the best wedding, it was emotional but everyone is so happy but now this has hurt us.

“I have worked hard to buy these gifts for my daughter and to save up the money that has been taken, I don’t feel this is right.”

The family say that despite calling police three times since their return in the early hours of Thursday morning, they have not been visited.

The wedding celebrations had come to a close the night before with a celebration at the International Centre in Telford.

Mrs Raja said that the weeks leading up to the wedding had been emotional for the family and they had been looking forward to relaxing on their return home.

She said: “It was an emotional time, the preparation for the wedding is a lot of stress and you just want everything to go right.

“It had been a long day and when we got home we just wanted to relax.

“It is going to take me days to go through the house and just take stock of what we have lost.”

Councillor Doug James, who represents the Darlaston South ward, said: “This is a terrible crime, it is tragic that a family has been hit by such a disgraceful crime.

“We don’t want this type of crime in Darlaston and I would urge anyone with information to tell the police. The community needs to support this family and help justice be brought to those who stole these items.”

The incident was reported to West Midlands Police. Anyone with information can contact police on 101.