Heartbreak after much-loved West Brom mascot Richard Eades' ashes left on floor by raiders

Carly Evans has spoken of her heartache after the burglary and fears her young children have been left traumatised.

Ms Evans and her two children Lily-Mae, nine, and Archie, four, returned to the family home in Wednesbury on Saturday to find it had been ransacked.

Several items with irreplaceable sentimental value were stolen, included the watch Richard used to wear, that had been left untouched in the master bedroom since his sudden death on Boxing Day in 2017.

Lily-Mae’s Pandora bracelet, which was bought on a trip to Disneyland paid for by a fundraising match involving Albion legends, was also stolen.

The raiders also took Richard’s iPad, which had hundreds of photos on it of the family.

And Ms Evans, who had to pick her late husband’s ashes off the floor of their bedroom, is now facing trying to piece her family together once again.

“My children are refusing to go back home,” she told the Express & Star. “They’ve had enough upheaval; our lives have not recovered from Boxing Day 2017.

“We are still picking up the pieces of that day. I’m devastated for the kids, I’ve got a nine-year-old and a four-year-old crying because they don’t want to go home.

“It’s going to set them back. They’ve been through enough trauma.”

Thieves broke in through the conservatory but left the family television before going upstairs and searching for jewellery.

“They’ve come in and violated our stuff,” said Ms Evans. “I think it is disgusting. How dare they throw his ashes on the floor, fortunately they didn’t come out of the bag.

“The most sentimental thing is the watch. It had been left in the same place where it was on that Boxing Day morning.

“I was going to give it to Archie when he was older, but now he can’t have that.

“It was probably £15 off Groupon but I want it back and I want Lily-Mae’s Pandora back.

“I’ve lost my photos off the iPad. I couldn’t care less how much it cost. I want them caught because of what they’ve done to his belongings.”

It wasn’t just the sentimental items the thieves took, but also the fact they had disturbed their bedrooms.

“I had never touched any of Richard's stuff, his clothes were in the wardrobe, his watch and shoes were where he took them off,” said Ms Evans.

“But they’d emptied everything. They emptied all his football bag and his football medals.

“Everything from the last 12 months was under our bed, the newspaper cuttings I couldn’t bring myself to read but was going to in the future, they went through all that.

“They did the same in the children’s bedrooms. They went through my little girl's cupboard.

“They were looking for jewellery and money. I haven’t got anything.”

It should have been a happy day for the family, who watched Lily-Mae compete in a gymnastic competition

“She won bronze and she was over the moon,” said Ms Evans. “She’s going to be representing the West Midlands.

“When we returned at 8.20pm and I opened the door, I noticed the settee had been moved.

“When I walked into the conservatory, that door was open, I could see glass everywhere.

“My instant reaction was get the kids out of the house, I locked myself in the car, phoned my friends and the police. I didn’t know if they were still in there.

“To cut a long story short they had completely ransacked the upstairs of his house.”

Ms Evans is now appealing for anybody who sees her late partner's black Limit watch, an iPad Air in a purple leather case, or the Pandora bracelet to contact the police.

The Pandora bracelet has a unique Disneyland Paris castle charm attached to it, and on the bottom it has ‘Disneyland Paris’ engraved on it.

It has also got a unicorn charm, a butterfly charm, a tiara charm, and charms of Stitch from Disney film Lilo and Stitch as well as Belle from Beauty from the Beast.

Richard was Albion mascot 'Albi' for 10 years and following his sudden death at the age of 42, the Baggies held a fundraising match in his memory at Halesowen Town.

A team led by Baggies boss Darren Moore took on a team led by club captain Chris Brunt.