Thieves “stole from the dead”

SHETLAND’S funeral directors Goudies in Lerwick were targeted by burglars who escaped with charity donations and the contents of the company safe on Wednesday night.

Anne Goudie, who runs the business, said she was particularly upset because the thieves had “stolen from the dead”.

She said they had broken in through an office window and taken company cash and donations that had been collected at recent funerals in Shetland.

They had also smashed through a wall and dragged the company safe out into the hallway, breaking through its back and escaping with an estimated £1,200 in cash.

“I am very, very bitter about this. They have not only robbed Goudie’s, they have robbed the dead,” she said.

“I have an insurance policy, I can have the windows fixed, I can do all that, but the fact they have taken money off the deceased is what I am upset about.”

This is the third time the funeral directors on Scalloway Road has been broken into since a burglary in November 1995, when it was one of 11 businesses that were targeted in Lerwick by a single thief.

Since then the company has installed various security measures, but Mrs Goudie said she would be stepping these up even further following this latest incident.

She stressed that the burglars had not gone anywhere near the mortuary or the chapel within the former hospital building, adding that it would have taken a strong person to drag the safe out of the wall of her office. “It must have been someone who knew what they were doing.”

She said that she had a great deal of faith in the Lerwick CID who always do “a very, very thorough job”.

Detective sergeant Lindsay Tulloch said: “Anyone who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously in the area or who may know who is responsible or have any other information regarding this incident are asked to contact the police.”