When Naomi Penrose gave birth to her daughter at the age of 18, she thought her life was over. The teenager had hoped to open her own café one day but thought it was no longer possible.
Six years later, that dream was about to become a reality – until cruel thieves stole it from her. Naomi was just days away from opening her new bakery when she had thousands of pounds worth of equipment stolen from her car.
The mum-of-two has since been forced to delay the opening of her Urmston eatery – Kara's Cakes and Café – until she can afford to replace the stolen items. The 24-year-old says the incident has left her devastated and fears the thieves had been watching her every move.
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“I’m so stressed thinking about how I’m going to replace it all,” Naomi, from Eccles, told the Manchester Evening News. “It must have been someone quite close to home because the boxes were so heavy. There’s no way you could carry them far.
“I’ve been storing all the equipment at my friend’s house in her garage because my house is only small. At around 7.30am on the morning it happened. I packed up my car and locked it while I went and got the kids.
“A neighbour knocked on my door saying she had caught two people in my car; I came out and they had cleared the whole thing. I don’t understand how because my car was locked and it has an alarm and the alarm didn’t go off. The windows weren’t smashed and there were no dents where the doors had been forced open.
“It must have been a planned thing because they have probably been watching me doing all the deliveries over such a long period of time. It’s scary because I live on my own with two daughters so I’m already a paranoid person. Every time a neighbour passes I’m thinking, ‘Was it you?’”
Among the items stolen were a cash register, bar stools, a mixer and other small items including cutlery, peelers and graters. The total value stolen is estimated to be around £3,000.
“I’m just devastated,” Naomi added. “I thought they took the café key too. That was the thing I was bothered about the most.
“I’d be saving up to buy those items for years. Some of the money was borrowed off family members. I have a family group chat and everyone has helped and is behind me and believes in me. But no one is loaded so I feel guilty the fact they’ve put money into things. I had been planning for this my whole life.”
A spokesman for GMP confirmed no one has been arrested in relation to the theft.
A fundraiser has since been set up to help Naomi raise enough funds to help replace the items that were stolen. To donate, follow the link by clicking here.
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