CRUEL thieves have made it a devastating start to the new year for a Radcliffe family. Miss Susan Gaffney, 37, had her new car stolen - and her eldest son's new bike was swiped in a separate theft. Mother-of-four Miss Gaffney, of Hamer Street, had scrimped and saved to bring a bit of cheer to her family, only to have her efforts dashed.

Her car was stolen on New Year's Day while she was visiting her sister-in-law, Joanne, in Hilton Crescent, Prestwich.

"I drove us to Joanne's for a New Year's Day dinner. I toasted the New Year and actually said that if 1999 was as good as 1998 then I would be 'made up'," said Miss Gaffney.

Lifeline

But while the celebrations were taking place inside the house the killjoy thieves were at work stealing the Vauxhall Nova from outside.

"When I looked outsideand saw it had gone I was absolutely devastated. It's not a flash car - I paid only £400 for it, which is all I was able to afford - but it really was a lifeline."

She had not even begun to recover from that blow when her 14-year-old son, Jamie, discovered that his new bike had been stolen.

"It cost me £250 and I'd got it for him as a Christmas present because I knew it would make his paper round easier," she added.

The thieves made off with the BMX Trek bike some time between Miss Gaffney going to bed at 2.30am and Jamie getting up.

"These people are the lowest of the low. Words cannot describe how I feel. I don't think I've stopped crying since it happened. It's been a terrible start to 1999."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.