A former mayor has spoken of his heartbreak after his terminally-ill wife’s jewellery was stolen by thieves who raided the couple’s home.

Huntingdonshire district councillor Colin Hyams says he is devastated after the break-in at his house in Bluegate, Godmanchester between 5.20pm and 7.30pm on Saturday (October 19).

The 72-year-old has been making daily trips to St John’s Hospice at Moggerhanger where his wife of 16 years, Ann, 70, was admitted four weeks ago.

On Saturday, he had visited as usual, accompanied by one of his stepsons. They went to a pub for an evening meal, only to return to find a patio door had been smashed and the upstairs ransacked.

Cllr Hyams said: “They are stealing from a woman lying in a hospice bed. The hardest part was picking everything up and putting it back into the wardrobe. I just started to cry because I thought how low can people be to do that, to steal from a dying woman.”

He said the first he realised something was wrong was when he noticed the back gate had been opened. “As we walked through the house I saw a drawer pulled and I said ‘I didn’t do that’. Then I walked into the living room and saw the window.

“I went upstairs and they had ransacked everything, pulled all the drawers out.”

A 37-inch television, a laptop and an iPad were among the items taken, along with a bag of US dollars.

But it was the loss of Mrs Hyam’s jewellery which has caused the greatest heartache. “They’ve taken it all,” he added. “She never wore it so I don’t know what’s gone. I cannot tell her to ask her.”

Agonisingly, Mrs Hyams was told she had inoperable cancer last May, the same day as her husband was made Mayor of Huntingdon.

“Ann has been extremely brave through