Villages shock as seven Suffolk postboxes stolen in 10 days
Chedburgh parish council chair, Sue Roberts, at the location that the postbox should stand. - Credit: CHARLOTTE BOND
Suffolk villages at the centre of a spate of stolen postboxes have hit out at the theft as "absolutely stupid" crimes.
Seven heritage-style postboxes were stolen from several villages in a ten-day period, starting at Rickinghall on Friday, January 7.
Sergeant Brian Calver, from the rural crime and wildlife team at Suffolk Police, said such postboxes were valuable items for their antique/collectible resale value.
Rickinghall parish council chairman, Geoff Short, said: “It’s absolutely stupid that somebody would take something that is used by the public.
“It beggars' belief really that postboxes can disappear but here we are, that’s where we’re at."
Around 21 miles down the road is Chedburgh, near Bury St Edmunds, which saw its postbox taken overnight between January 17 and 18.
Parish council chair Sue Roberts, said the theft has left her "totally devastated" as the postbox was "an integral part of the village."
Sue Roberts said she is "totally devestated" by the theft of the historic postbox. - Credit: CHARLOTTE BOND
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She added: “I think to a certain degree it just creates concern for people that have put things in that postbox.
“Not everybody uses modern technology and relies upon the postbox itself.
“An individual has a trust that when they put something in the box that it’ll get to the location that it needs to get to, and obviously this time it may not do so.”
Chedburgh's postbox was stolen overnight between January 17-18. - Credit: CHARLOTTE BOND
The parish clerk Maximilian Clay added: "We’re all rather shocked, it’s not the sort of thing you expect in a little rural village.
"I was phoned by one of the residents and they had heard that several others had been taken as well, so we realised that something strange was afoot.
"There is the inconvenience factor, but it’s more the fact that things like post boxes and telephone boxes and so on are part of the landscape of a village.
"Royal Mail no doubt will replace the postbox but it's not going to be the one that sat there for decades and decades."
Wixoe, near Sudbury, was also targeted.
Parish council chairman Duncan Howlett, said: “It’s a bit of a sad occasion because it’s been there probably 70 plus years, and it is a shame to see it go.
“Hopefully it will be replaced but unfortunately it won't be an old type, it'll be a new plastic version."
Sgt Calver added: “What is definite is that such thefts are a big loss of heritage and identity to the village from where they are stolen from."
