A WOMAN has made an emotional appeal for help after her mother’s pre-war nursing badge was stolen from her home.

Burglars took jewellery including rings, lockets, necklaces and bracelets from the home of Valerie Stephens, 71, in Love Lane, Rayleigh after forcing open a door.

Among the items was the rare nursing badge engraved with “K D Kibble” and a service number on the back.

Echo:

The silver and enamel badge was given to Mrs Stephens’s mother, Kathleen Kibble, before the Second World War.

Mrs Kibble worked as a midwife and in a nursing home, and later lived in Billericay.

Mrs Stephens said: “It’s upsetting, coming home finding your clothes and underwear strewn throughout your bedroom.

“What’s particularly upsetting is that it’s one of the few things she brought back from Jersey when she had to be evacuated during the war.

“She met my father in Jersey and my two brothers were born there.

“We believe she was on one of the last boats back to England before the Germans invaded.”

Mrs Stephens has owned the badge since 1976 and had hoped to pass it on to her own daughter to keep the family history alive.

The break-in is believed to have happened between 1.30pm and 10.55pm on September 16, when a kitchen door was forced open.

Anyone with information is asked to contact PC Paul Gutteridge at Southend CID on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.