Canadian veterans robbed in car park

POLICE were yesterday hunting thieves who stole cameras and cash worth a total of pounds 12,000 from a coach belonging to a group of Canadian veterans visiting Britain for the D- Day commemorations.

The Mercedes coach was parked in the Historic Ships car park in Portsea, Portsmouth, while the war heroes - now in their 70s - went sightseeing and had lunch on Friday. They returned to find that cash, three camcorders and two cameras were gone but there were no signs of any break-in.

The cash consisted of French francs, Dutch guilders, German marks and Canadian dollars. The cash and goods belonged to six veterans in the group of 37 who left for France yesterday.

Detective Inspector Nigel Bailey, of the Portsmouth police, said: 'I would appeal to these thieves to consider whether they would really want to steal from people who were prepared to give their lives in order that they could be free.

'It is a despicable crime against brave people who fought for the freedom of Europe.

'I would ask the thieves to return the property to me or inform me where it can be found.'