A nurse worked for 13 hours helping save the lives of Covid-19 patients - then found thieves had stolen her Fiesta from the hospital's car park.
Janine Morgan, 48, said she was left in a state of shock and disbelief after discovering her car was missing after finishing the gruelling shift at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.
Janine - whose father passed away from coronavirus earlier this year - had volunteered to work three hours of overtime after her normal shift to help out her exhausted collegues.
She said: "It was a horrendous day and we were all on our knees.
"I had to break bad news to a lady with a life-limiting illness who couldn't have her family with her."
Of the thieves who took her red Ford hatchback, she added: "How do they sleep at night?"
Janine, 48, had bought the £8,500 Ford Fiesta just a month earlier after saving up for it for years, reports The Mirror.
She had offered to do three hours' voluntary extra work on the hospital's Hyper Acute Stroke Unit after her usual 10-hour shift at Stepping Hill.
But when she eventually left to go home, Janine found the motor had disappeared from the hospital car park.
In an angry social media message, her family called the culprits 'scumbags' and 'the lowest of the low'.
Janine, a nurse for almost 30 years, has worked throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Her father Joe, 76, died after contracting the virus in March.
The mum-of-two, who lives in Poynton, Cheshire, said: "If I had left on time I would still have my car, but I just couldn't leave my colleagues.
"Another patient collapsed and my team helped revive her.
"Then a gentleman died and I consoled the nurse who had been at his side all day."
When Janine nipped out to call her mum Barbara, 78, to tell her she would be working late, her car was still parked outside the stroke unit at Stepping Hill.
Security footage showed a couple pulling into the car park in their own vehicle and a man using a device to open the keyless-entry Fiesta, she said.
Janine added: "I was in shock.
"How do they sleep at night?
"The only vehicles there belong to staff or to relatives of the dying.
"The security guard told me that the thieves were likely within a 10-metre radius of me when they stole the car, which makes my knees wobble."
Police later found the Fiesta dumped and a feared write-off.
Janine said she hoped her insurance would pay for a replacement.
The thieves struck on Monday, November 16, between 3pm and 6.30pm.
"Nursing is a hard job at the best of times but now it's on another level," added Janine, who is now using her son's car to get to work.
"I came out at the end of my shift to call my mum, like I did every day since my dad's passing, and told her I would be staying late because it was so busy.
"I was in shock - I just stood outside in disbelief.
"I couldn't believe why someone would target a hospital to steal a car.
"We don't have casual visitors in the hospital anymore due to the lockdown, so the only cars parked in the car park are of the staff or of relatives of those who are dying.
"I don't understand the mentality of these people - how do they get up in the morning?"
