A North Yorkshire Police officer who asked people to ‘help me restore my faith in humanity’ has been amazed by the response.
Traffic officer Sgt Paul Cording attended a terrible crash on the A64 last month which left a family devastated.
An HGV and a motorhome collided near Jinnah Restaurant at Flaxton. A mother and two children, a nine year old girl and a five year old boy, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The father survived and so did a six-year-old boy, although he was seriously hurt.
We reported on Friday that the boy had been released from hospital, and he and his father returned home – only to find it had been ransacked by burglars. An XBox, TV and personal items were taken.
Sgt Cording and his 999 colleagues were horrified – and set up a fundraising campaign to replace the stolen items, hoping to raise £1,000.
But that target was quickly smashed – and now stands at more than £16,000 thanks to donations form 1,100 people.
Sgt Cording tweeted: “This is truly amazing and I can’t thank you enough. This will make a huge difference to this family who have been through so much. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so very much.”
Some of those donating left comments about how they had been moved by the story. “I wanted to show there are people who care, we are local to the crash and it really shocked us. I hope you can both start to rebuild your lives,” said Jodie Wallace-Hill.
And Jenna Sanderson said: “There are no words. Sending strength to you at this heartbreaking time. The sun will shine again.”