Corby son's plea for to find mum's stolen scooters leads to kind-hearted offer

A Corby woman living in lockdown has had her 'independence' snatched away from her as she self-isolated when her two mobility scooters were stolen from her garage.

Due to her underlying medical conditions, Myra Magill had been unable to leave her Llewellyn Court home and her beloved scooters locked away awaiting the removal of lockdown restrictions.

Last Friday (April 3), Mrs Magill's key worker husband Michael got back from his night shift wanting to put his bike away only to discover that their garage had been forced open and both scooters were missing.

She said: "They are my independence, I have type-2 diabetes, bad asthma and arthritis in my knees. The people who did this are just scumbags.

"People have scooters for a reason. The scooters meant I could keep my independence. I would meet my daughter-in-law in town and go to my weekly craft group.

"Obviously I'm in isolation at the moment. I can't walk the distance from the living room to the kitchen without getting out of breath."

Mrs Magill, 64, had bought a folding scooter so she could be taken on days out by son Matt, and another larger, faster model that she had been given by the family of her best friend Liz Harper, who died last year.

Although she did not buy her everyday scooter, she felt it brought her closer to her beloved friend.

She said: "We were best friends for 57 years, We went to Hazel Leys Juniors and Seniors together and worked together. We would talk all the time and have a laugh then I lost my best friend.

"Her boys brought their mum's scooter up and said they would like me to have it, so it's got sentimental value. I felt like she was riding on the scooter with me. It's so sad."

Mrs Magill's son Matt Smith, who also lives in Corby, was so incensed by the break-in at his mum's garage he took to social media to try to find the missing mobility scooters.

He said: "The people who did this have no regard for anyone, especially at a time like this. They need to realise that if they open up a garage and see mobility scooters in there it's because they need them. They are her independence."

One of the posts was seen by Adam Sargeant, the area manager of Eden Mobility in Leicester, who lives in Kettering.

He immediately offered to replace the stolen scooter free of charge.

Mr Sargeant said: "Our motto is 'regain your freedom with Eden' and we always try to help. We know how important scooters are to the elderly.

"With everything that's going on at the moment it's a bit low to pick on someone who relies on them. They are scumbags."

Mr Sargeant will meet up with the family after lockdown has been lifted to present the new scooter to Mrs Magill.

Son Matt 36, added: "It brought tears to my eyes and has restored my faith in humankind. I can't thank him enough."

The larger of Mrs Magill's scooters is a distinctive champagne colour, while the smaller folding model is black and red.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said: "This happened sometime between 5pm on Thursday, April 2 and 6am on Friday, April 3 in Llewellyn Walk, Corby, when the unknown offender/s broke into a garage a stole two mobility scooters worth a total of £750 and a bicycle as well. One scooter was red coloured, the other champagne coloured."

Anyone with information about the theft should contact the police on 101.

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper when you do your weekly shop.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you