A mother is pleading for the return of the urn containing her daughter’s ashes after it was stolen from her house in Birmingham on Friday.

Catherine Farrell-Breen, 31, gave birth to Phoenix 10 years ago but her daughter was stillborn.

She has kept her daughter’s ashes with her ever since but she “lost her all over again” after the urn was taken during a break-in from her home in Garretts Green.

The mother-of-two pleaded with those responsible to “just leave it somewhere if you don’t want to hand it in and be seen. Just leave her so she can be found, please”.

“It was the first thing I looked for. You can’t do anything about it but your body is screaming to do something about it,” Ms Farrell-Breen told Sky News.

“It’s like I have gone through the same motions that I did when I lost her.

“It’s proactive at birth and you are just like, let me get everything done, but this morning, I was out looking in the bushes and that’s when it properly hit me that she’s gone.”

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Ms Farrell-Breen, who is a barmaid and has two daughters, said that she “always wanted to be with” Phoenix.

“I didn’t separate her ashes, I kept her whole. It meant for me, that she was always going to be with me. I have said to everybody, if I pass away, I want my ashes with her,” she said.

“We have got pictures up of her and we do a balloon release and have a party on her birthday every year.

“My seven and eight-year-olds know what the urn means to me, they know it’s one shelf not to touch. When it’s her birthday we light candles around the urn. It’s a big part of knowing about their older sister.”

West Midlands Police has appealed for help from the public and Ms Farrell-Breen said that her neighbours have been “lovely” since the urn was taken.

During the break-in, a Nintendo Switch, which Ms Farrell-Breen’s daughters got for Christmas and cash was also stolen.

The cash was taken from a money jar, which Ms Farrell-Breen had been saving to take her children on days out during the February half-term.

In a Facebook post, West Midlands Police said: “The urn contains the ashes of the homeowner’s first child, who was stillborn almost 10 years ago, so we are desperate to get it back for her.

“She is understandably very distressed.”

Officers added: “They may have already discarded it somewhere, so we are hoping that someone may come across it and contact us.”

Police said if anyone has any information, they should get in touch via Live Chat on their website quoting crime reference 20/193726/22 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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