A BUILDER who had his work tools and van stolen while renovating his mother’s home to make it wheelchair-friendly has been dealt another blow, as the stolen vehicle has been found burnt out near East Kilbride.
Speaking exclusively to Evening Times on November 7, Paul McElhinney expressed his family’s devastation after his work van and up to £10,000 worth of tools was stolen on the morning of November 5.
He said: “The entire family are devastated that mum won’t be home for Christmas. It’s heartbreaking that the family won’t be together, even the kids are heartbroken.”
READ MORE: Gran left homeless for Christmas after thieves nick son's van and building tools
Now, after almost a fortnight of searching, Paul and his workmate were alerted to the location of the van on November 13 by police who had reports of a burning vehicle in the area.
Paul said: “By the looks of it, they ripped out the inside of my van; the engine, everything. They took my tools and set fire to the van. It was just a shell when we got to it.”
He had previously taken six to eight weeks off from work to adapt his mother Agnes’ new home in Rutherglen to make it wheelchair-friendly for her return from hospital.
Agnes, who was left paralysed from a spinal stroke diagnosis in November 2018, was hoping to return to a newly-adapted home in time for Christmas but the theft of her son’s building materials and transport means that she will spend the festive period in The New Victoria Hospital.
With the hope of finding the stolen goods to complete the work, Paul and his family were heartbroken to find that the vehicle had been left abandoned.
Paul said: “We’ve had so much bad luck the past year – my mum being in the hospital and my dad is in the hospital too.
“My mum had the spinal stroke because of stress before and this is getting her stressed again, so she hasn’t been keeping well. These people don’t realise how they affect lives.”
After the destroyed van was found, Paul’s partner, Courtney, launched a JustGiving page to help raise funds to get his business back on track.
In the page, Courtney said: “Paul is probably going to be embarrassed that I’ve made this page but in all honesty I don’t know how else we are going to recover and pay the bills especially this close to Christmas.”
Paul started his own business, Calma Contracts, in 2017 and used the van and building tools to make a living for himself, as well for the school run and taking his children them to see his parents in hospital.
Courtney continued: “We are optimistic people and although this gut-wrenching and vile act has set us back quite a bit, we still have each other and beautiful people around about us which we are very grateful for.
“If this page only gets even £100 it will still be better than nothing... I am starting to realise that sometimes in life you need to ask for help to get it.”
Paul said: “With so much bad luck the past year, it’s really nice to see so many people want to help us. It reminds you there is good in the world, especially at this time of year.”
The family's JustGiving page is still live with just over £1,500 raised so far. To donate to Paul and Courtney's appeal, click here.
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