Dying mum disowns 40-year-old son after he steals jewellery and £2000 to buy drink

Pensioners Helen and David Wright had bought several thousand pounds worth of jewellery over a lifetime, and intended to split the collection between their seven grandchildren.

But their 40-year-old son, David, stole the jewellery after telling his parents he would keep it safe for them.

Mrs Wright, who is suffering from terminal lung cancer, said she was distraught that her "blue-eyed boy" had betrayed their trust.

The elderly couple said they were glad their errant son had been imprisoned over the theft.

The Wrights also said that only 500 worth of their jewellery had been traced by police, the amount their son pleaded guilty to stealing, and even those items recovered from an Edinburgh pawn shop may not be returned to them.

But they claim their son stole several thousand pounds' worth of jewellery, as well as 2,000 in cash they had kept in their home in Wester Drylaw Place. Mrs Wright, 65, said: "The house next door had been broken into a number of times so I was worried about my jewellery. David said he would keep it safe and I trusted him. I gave him a bag of chains, bracelets, earrings and other things which I had bought over the years.

"I'm terminally ill and it was things I wanted to give my grandchildren as a nest egg when I'm gone. David would have had his share as well.

"It was the lowest of the low to steal from his parents. Obviously the drink meant more to him. He was my blue-eyed boy and I don't know what we did wrong. We thought we brought him up right and we've never had problems with our other two children.

"I'm disowning him after what he did to us. I'm not speaking to him again."

Mrs Wright said her son had never held down a proper job, and had borrowed money in the past without paying it back.

Mr Wright, 66, a retired labourer, said the procurator fiscal had contacted him on Monday to say they were still unsure about whether the 500 in recovered jewellery could be returned to them.

He said: "They said the pawn shop had the first claim on them so we don't know what's happening yet. But there was far more that went missing.

"My wife gave him the jewellery, but then my jewellery, which must've been worth 4,000, also went missing from our house, along with 2,000 in cash which was in a bag in our bedroom.

"We believe he stole a lot more than he pleaded guilty to. It wasn't insured and I don't know if we'll ever get it back. David must've sold it privately if the police haven't found it in pawn shops.

"I would've liked the case to go to trial so we could try and find out what happened to all of it.

"We knew something was up when my wife asked for the jewellery he was keeping safe back again. He ignored our phone calls and notes through his door. That's when we checked and saw what else was missing."

Defence agent James Stewart told Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week that Wright, of Wester Drylaw Row, was suffering from depression.

Wright was sentenced to six months in prison after admitting stealing his mother's jewellery on 27 June, 2008. Sentencing him, Sheriff James Scott told Wright: "This was a really mean-spirited thing to do."