Village rallies to help Magdalen pensioner following burglary

Donations and well-wishes have been flooding in following a burglary at a Magdalen pensioner’s home.

Barry Watson, 77, was targeted earlier this month, when he answered his door to two men who were offering to cut the trees in his garden.

After allowing them entry into his home, the two men stole his wallet, containing cash and cards, before driving away in their small white van.

One of Barry’s neighbours, Ruth Kerrison, took to social media to share her shock over the burglary and launched an appeal for the elderly gentleman.

Ruth said: “I decided to write a status on Facebook about what had happened over at Barry’s house.

“I asked my Facebook friends whether they could spare any money, food, or anything else which could help Barry through this time.

“I also asked them to share my status on Facebook and a lot of them simply copy and pasted my message onto their own status.

“I was just overwhelmed with the response.”

Ruth’s Facebook status read: “A pensioner in Magdalen was burgled on Saturday morning at 8.40am by two men in a small white van. They pretended to be gardeners and they took his wallet with cash and cards in it. My CCTV picked the van up but the registration plate was missing.

“I was thinking of doing a small collection for him. If you could spare £1, a tin of soup or anything else just to show this vulnerable man that we care.”

Later in the week, Ruth went round to Barry’s house to handover the money and food donations, saying “he teared up over people’s generosity”.

Ruth and Barry’s son, John Watson, said they would like to thank everybody who donated on Barry’s behalf.

John said: “The village has been great. Pam Murray, who lives near my dad, also organised a collection and they took dad meals and got him a big food hamper delivered.

“Magdalen chip shop has been giving him free fish chips for a week and they have had a money collection in village which they presented him with. It’s been wonderful.

“We are all just overwhelmed by the support and generosity of everybody who has donated and would like to publicly thank everybody.”

Norfolk Police have been informed and are investigating the incident.