A heartbroken mum is pleading for the safe return of poignant goodwill messages sent to her after her new-born baby boy died.

Sara Stratton was working at a funeral parlour in Chatham when a thief pounced, distracting her before snatching her purse.

Sara had the mementoes with her because it marked the 11th anniversary of Charlie’s untimely death when he was five days old.

His twin sister, Megan, pictured, survived the premature birth weighing in at just over 2lb.

Sara, 42, has never come to terms with Charlie’s passing and, to this day, has not had the courage to open a baby memory box compiled by her family.

But she took great support from the messages she kept tucked in her purse.

She was working alone in the office at Button and Family Funeral Services in the High Street when she heard somebody come in.

She said: “I immediately got up. You don’t tend to get browsers coming in - it’s normally a family who need some guidance and support.”

Alarm bells rang when she saw it was a foreign man, aged between 25 to 30, who spoke little English.

She had left the black purse on a desk but she felt he seemed more interested eyeing up two mobile phones.

“They won’t mean anything to anyone else and will probably just get thrown into the bin..." Sara Stratton

Sara, who lives in Hurlfield, Wilmington, said: “He kept yelling ‘internet, internet’. I told him we did not have the internet. As we are having some work done the power keeps coming on and off.”

He then got a big piece of paper out of his pocket, drawing her attention. She said: “Now, thinking back he was hiding the purse or had already taken it.”

The purse also contained her driving licence, bank cards and £200 cash.

Sara, who is also mum to Mitchell, nine, said: “I don’t care about any of that. It’s those little bits of paper that mean so much to me.

“They won’t mean anything to anyone else and will probably just get thrown into the bin. How will I ever replace them?”

Police press officer Sally Smith said: "Police are investigating following a report of a theft of a purse from a woman at a business in High Street, Chatham.

"The incident was reported to police at 5.30pm on Wednesday, February 27 but is thought to have happened at around 2.30pm.”

If you have information, call police on 01634 792209 quoting reference 27-1432.