A young couple have been left high and dry in Spain, after cold-hearted thieves ransacked their car in a £60,000 robbery.
“Heartbroken” Anna Higginbottom, 27, and her partner Peter Lesisz, 26, were set to board a ferry from Bilbao to Portsmouth on Tuesday, making their journey back to Scotland from Denia in Spain, where Anna had been living and working.
They spent Monday night at a hostel in Bilbao, and say they were told by staff the car park was CCTV-monitored. But they woke to find their car had been broken into via the passenger door and had been completely cleaned out.
Anna said: “We’ve been left with only our phones and each other. It’s a disaster. We have nothing left. We’re just completely devastated.”
The couple estimate they’ve lost out on roughly £60,000 worth of belongings, with Peter losing around £55,000 worth of rare, specialist car tuning equipment for his Alpine Performance business. This also included pen drives containing a database of custom engine software files built over eight years, reports the Daily Record.
Wellness coach Anna said: “Peter’s worked years to build this business. That equipment isn’t just expensive, it’s his whole way of life. He’s one of the best in the UK at what he does. “He has not stopped crying. I’ve never seen him like this. It’s heartbreaking.”
Anna’s losses, valued at around £5,000, included expensive jewellery, clothing, sentimental photos and items from her late mother. She said: “That’s what hurts most. The sentimental things – they’re just gone. They can’t be replaced.”
To make things worse, Peter’s passport was also stolen, so they missed their ferry. Peter must now undertake a 10-hour round trip to Madrid to obtain a temporary passport, using money borrowed from family.
The couple has had to rely on the Spanish social services for emergency accommodation and food.
Anna continued: “The police haven’t helped us. There’s such a language barrier. We’ve had to do our own investigation. One of my cards was used locally, and we even found the shop. They told us that it was a Moroccan man.
“We’re terrified that the longer this goes on, the less chance we have of seeing our stuff again.”
The couple has launched a GoFundMe to try and recover some of the staggering loss. In a post online, Anna wrote: “We never thought we’d be in this position Even £5 would mean the world.”
If you’d like to support Peter and Anna, you can visit their GoFundMe here