A BURGLAR ransacked a bereaved family’s home while they were on holiday.

The raider entered their daughter’s bedroom which had remained untouched since her death five years earlier.

Treasured photographs and videos of 11-year-old Caitlyn Rio Edwards – and her jewellery – were taken.

A court heard yesterday how thanks to a pawn shop the camera and computer containing the irreplaceable photographs had been recovered.

But her jewellery and a heart-shaped cremation pendant with a message from Caitlyn’s sister to their mother had been lost forever because they had been melted down.

The family returned from holiday to find their home ransacked and the burglar had vomited in their dining room.

It turned out that the burglar was a neighbour, Michael Marian Baranowski, 33, who lived in Sandy Lane, Garden City, Deeside.

He was arrested after his fingerprint was found at the point of entry.

The defendant appeared from custody at Flintshire Magistrates Court at Mold yesterday, pleaded guilty to the burglary between August 10 and 13, and was remanded in custody to be sentenced at Mold Crown Court in three weeks’ time.

Baranowski, who followed the proceedings with the aid of a Polish interpreter, had been in the UK for six years and had no previous convictions in the UK.

But he was described as a burglar and had burglary convictions in Poland.

The court heard how the parents had been left devastated after the theft of the items belonging to their late daughter Caitlyn, who passed away five years ago after a battle with leukaemia.

Prosecutor Justin Espie said that clearly some of the stolen items had substantial sentimental value because of the tragic circumstances of their daughter’s death.

In addition to the photographs and videos, jewellery belonging to Caitlyn had been stolen.

“They were taken from her bedroom and that bedroom had been untouched since her death,” he explained.

The prosecutor told how a friend had been checking the property while they were on holiday and on August 13 the burglary was discovered.

Numerous electrical items and jewellery had been taken during the untidy search of the property by the burglar, who had vomited in the rear dining room.

Among the items taken were a camcorder, a camera and a laptop computer which contained photographs and films of their daughter who died at the age of 11 five years ago.

“I don’t think I can express enough the level of distress that this incident has caused the victims,” Mr Espie eplained.

A warrant was executed at the defendant’s home a couple of doors away and some stolen property and pawn shop receipts were recovered.

The defendant had used his own identification when conducting the transactions.

Property recovered from the shop was positively identified and later the shop owner contacted the police and said he believed that further items had been taken to the shop.

“It is extremely fortunate that the laptop and camera equipment were recovered by the shop,” he said.

A number of other items of jewellery were taken to the shop but they had unfortunately been sent for smelting and could not be recovered.

They had been lost for ever, including a heart-shaped cremation pendant with a message from Caitlyn’s sister to their mother.

Arrested and interviewed, the defendant admitted what he had done.

Magistrates heard that the defendant had been on bail to Hammersmith Magistrates Court at the time pending an extradition hearing.

Gary Harvey, defending, said his client lived with his partner and two children and worked at the UPM paper mill on Deeside.

“He really regrets what he has done. 

“He has expressed considerable remorse and had no knowledge of the family circumstances and the child who had died. 

“It has played on his mind since.

“As a family man he appreciates the circumstances and the grave error of judgement that he made,” he said.

Mr Harvey said his client was drunk at the time and his recollection of what he had done was not the best. 

The defendant had endeavoured to recover as much of the stolen property as he could.

He applied for bail and said he could live at an address in Henry Taylor Street in Flint.

The prosecutor said the defendant was a flight risk and magistrates remanded him in custody pending sentence at the crown court.