A wholesome apology: Students return woman’s precious Buddha statue

A Lincoln woman “devastated” after the theft of a sentimental Buddha statue gifted by her mum, was relieved when it was returned with a letter of heartfelt apologies.

Chanelle Halford, who lives on Far Wharf just off Carholme Road in Lincoln, said the statue was taken from outside her home in the early hours of the morning on Saturday, November 26.

The Buddha statue had been bought for her by her mum Sue around 15 years ago and is considered a “treasured present” by Chanelle.

Her mum is now really poorly in hospital after having a stroke five weeks ago and Chanelle told The Lincolnite “anything she has bought me is very precious to me”.

Chanelle decided not to call the police straight away as she was hoping to get it back again, which fortunately happened the following morning after an appeal she put in the local Facebook group ‘You’re probably from Lincoln if’ was shared far and wide.

Chanelle was “devastated” when she realised her Buddha statue had been taken from outside of her home in Lincoln.

The statue was taken, but the base was left.

She added: “When I came out on the Sunday I was half expecting the base to have been taken, and when I saw the Buddha returned I almost cried with relief.

“I was grateful they took the time to explain and return the Buddha and it was a heartfelt letter of apology, you don’t often get them.”

When the statue was returned it was accompanied by a remorseful letter, which read: “I am so sorry about stealing your Buddha. I want you to know that we wanted no harm to come to it.

“About a year ago I met my partner, we sat on your old chairs and talked for hours. Ever since then we’ve walked past the Buddha and patted it on the head for good luck. It has always been a sentimental memory for us.

“I wanted to tell you that so then you’d know that no harm has and would never have come to it. Of course this is no excuse for stealing something so precious from you.

“Yes we were drunk (of course) and thought that in the moment that we wanted to take it so that we would have, I guess the physical memory?

“Now that we’re both sober, however we realise just how bloody ridiculous that is.”

The Buddha statue was a precious gift given to Chanelle by her mum, who is currently poorly in hospital.

The students continued in their letter, saying: “We even planned to buy you a new one so then nothing would be lost. I’m sorry we didn’t think about the sentimental value it might have to you.

“We know it was wrong to steal. Please believe me that we’re not bad people. We were being stupid and completely selfish.

“If you do decide to take legal action then we fully accept that. We never wanted to hurt anybody. This has scared us sh**less (and rightly so) we’ll never be this stupid again.

“I’m sorry to hear about your mum. I hope she feels better.

 Please keep your Buddha safe and away from us mindless students.”

The students sent this letter to Chanelle when they returned the Buddha statue.

Page two of the ‘heartfelt apology’ letter.

Although she is relieved to have it back and grateful for the honesty of those who took it, it was still a worrying incident for Chanelle.

She added: “It does worry me as I had a bench stolen earlier in the year and my new one is chained down.”

However, Chanelle is “not planning to take legal action as I think they’ve learnt their lesson,” she said.

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