THE owner of a Post Office raided by thieves has thanked his local community for their support in the aftermath of ‘a traumatic and disturbing time’.
The burglars struck at Les and Hazel Danson’s Kerry Post Office at 1.30am on Friday, December 23, taking what police say is a ‘substantial amount of money’.
In a further blow they also took Les and Hazel’s Christmas presents during the burglary.
The couple have run the Post Office for the past 18 years and say the reaction of Kerry’s residents since the raid has been overwhelming.
Les said: “The people of Kerry have been fantastic. The messages and cards have been great. They have sent flowers, it’s been very emotional because people have been so kind. We just have to move on and be positive and hope nothing like this ever happens again.”
The couple had planned to retire and the shop has been on the market for the past 12 months, but Les said the latest incident would not put him off running a rural post office.
He said: “The thing is it happens all over the country. You are always hearing of incidents like this. It would not put me off but rural areas are targets for big boys from the cities. This is what the police seem to think, that it could be some organised gang from a city.”
He added: “We’ve enjoyed every minute of it though and we still do, it’s a vital service to the community, a lifeline to a lot of people who would be lost without it.”
Les said that while the experience has been disturbing he is just thankful that neither he nor his wife were injured in the burglary.
He said: “We were down within minutes of hearing the alarm. The only positive thing that has come out of it is that we weren’t harmed or injured in any way because the consequences could have been quite dire if we had actually disturbed or confronted them.”
Les said that theft of the Christmas presents had rubbed salt in the wound.
He said: “They took all the Christmas presents I bought Hazel, they took some nice perfume and gift sets which we can now perhaps smile about but it was upsetting that on Christmas Day Hazel had nothing to open, that’s what upset me.”
He said they would now focus on getting back to normal and he again praised the people of Kerry for their support.
He said: “It’s traumatic and disturbing that someone has been in our property but we just have to move on as best we can.
“It’s been rather traumatic and emotional but we have to be positive and move forward. We have got the support of local people who have been fantastic.”