A schoolteacher leaving a funeral service for her grandmother broke down after finding that her car, full of possessions, had been stolen.

Emma Dalley, of Colinette Road, made the discovery when she left Putney crematorium last Friday following the service for her grandmother Margaret.

Arriving straight from a holiday in the west country the car, a dark blue Polo, had been full of Ms Dalley's clothes and jewellery, as well as school work for the entire forthcoming term.

Ms Daley said: "I was coming back from a week away in Bath and got held up on the way so I had no time to remove my things from the car. I arrived with just three minutes to spare but I thought it would be safe in the crematorium's car park.

"When I came out and discovered it had been stolen I lost it a bit and was in floods of tears. It was a difficult day as it was, but for this to happen on top was horrendous."

Ms Dalley is a teacher at Barnes Montessori nursery and had taken the Easter holiday as an opportunity to prepare work for the new term, which started this week.

The work, which had taken many hours to put together, disappeared together with a host of teaching resources from the school.

Also taken was a host of belongings, including jewellery of sentimental value, a cheque book, bills and other paperwork with personal details.

As a result of the theft, Ms Dalley was forced to spend the next few hours changing the locks at home and contacting her bank to secure her account.

Her mother Joan said: "We were only in the service for 20 minutes when we came out. Emma was devastated.

"Are there ghouls out there who just prowl round looking for cars while people are inside? It was a horrible thing to discover on such a day."

The Dalley family are offering a reward for the return of the car or its contents, and point out that the canvas bag with school work can be identified by books bearing the school's name. Anyone with information should contact Wandsworth police on 020 8672 9922, or call Crimestopppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

April 30, 2003 10:00