A mum has told of her heartbreak after the Christmas presents she bought for her sons were stolen by burglars.
Zoe Hickman spent all year saving and took out a loan of £500 to buy presents for Charlie, four, and Bobby, seven.
The devastating theft comes a year after Zoe lost baby Matilda, who was due to be born on Christmas Day.
A month before her due date Zoe was told that her baby had no heartbeat during a routine appointment at 36 weeks, after being diagnosed with Group B Strep.
The 23-year-old was induced the following day and gave birth to Matilda.
Zoe and her partner Josh, 28, then spent a week in hospital with their daughter in a cold cot.
The couple went home while grieving for their stillborn baby and when Zoe’s sons asked where Matilda was devastated Zoe told them she’d gone to the moon.
"We had Matilda’s funeral on the 12th December but weren’t in the mood for decorating and only put up the tree on Christmas Eve," Zoe, 23, said.
"Josh and I sat in the funeral director’s reading Christmas books to Matilda beforehand and dressed her in a white dress before we buried her. Afterwards I completely broke down."
Zoe, from Bolton, was devastated that their Christmas had been ruined and wanted to make this year's perfect for them.
"I’ve been saving up all year to buy presents for them and take them to Winter Wonderland," she said.
"I’d even taken out a £500 loan to pay for the presents and wanted to take the boys to do all the things they missed out on last year.
But after hiding the bag of presents on top of her wardrobe, Zoe took Charlie out for dinner and returned home to find her house ransacked and glass covering the kitchen floor from where a window had been smashed.
"They’d taken the whole bag - everything was gone. I was heartbroken - we’d had such a terrible time after Matilda died and now robbers had stolen this Christmas."
The missing gifts included PlayStation games, a slushie maker, a Ryan’s World Giant Mystery Egg, more Ryan’s World toys, board games, stocking fillers and winter clothes from Next.
They’d also taken Zoe’s jewellery and a pillowcase to carry the gifts in. "I sat down and cried," Zoe said.
"I knew this Christmas would be hard and a struggle to get through because it’s the anniversary of Matilda’s death but the robbery is devastating.
"I have no presents to give my boys on Christmas Day. I don’t know what we’ll do now. We can go for Christmas dinner with my or Josh’s family but I’m dreading seeing Charlie and Bobby’s faces when they realise Santa hasn’t been this year."
Despite stealing Christmas presents, thieves left Matilda’s memory box, which contained her blanket, teddy, baby clothes and umbilical cord.
"They’d opened it and rummaged through the box - her stuff was everywhere, but luckily nothing had been taken.
"I’d have been heartbroken if they had, but the thieves only took stuff they could sell on.’
Zoe’s sister, Holly, has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money to replace the stolen presents. It’s currently reached £1,025 out of a target of £800.
"People have been so kind to donate.
"It means my boys will have a proper Christmas after all. It’s what they deserve after everything they’ve been through."
