A DISTRAUGHT Chinese expat is offering a £600 reward to anyone who can recover his wedding day photos after his Chelmsford home was burgled.
Sky Fong, 38, who lives with his wife Happy in a house share in Meadgate Avenue, is struggling to sleep at night after the photos, which included some of his late father, were taken.
Mr Fong, who lost about £1,600 worth of belongings on April 26, has even put up reward posters in his local Co-operative and on lampposts in the area.
Speaking to the Chronicle, he pleaded with readers to help bring the burglar to justice so he can be reunited with his pictures.
"Please help bring my memories back," he said.
"I couldn't sleep for two days and I feel like no one can help me, so I put posters nearby so I can give some money to anyone who can find it," said Mr Fong.
"If I get them back I would be really happy. The poster says £400 but I will now pay £600 because I also lost all my pictures of my daddy who just passed away.
"I'm no rich man but these pictures are so important. Money can't buy those memories."
As well as the two hard drives containing more than 300 professional photos, he lost a sports bag, a hair dryer, an iPod, a memory stick and a Sony Ericsson phone.
Mr Fong, who moved from Hong Kong about nine years ago, was at work at the IZUMI Chinese buffet restaurant in Brentwood between 1.10pm and 11pm when his home was raided.
He and his wife, who married in Tunbridge Wells in 2009, are both devastated following the incident, while Mr Fong says he wakes up in distress at 5am every morning.
Mr Fong had just returned from China on the Saturday before the incident, after taking the body of his father, who died in March, back home.
"Sometimes at night I would turn on the computer to see the pictures of my daddy," he said.
"It was really upsetting when me and my father argued in hospital, but we could still talk to each other again later and stop arguing.
"It's really horrible now that we can't speak. He passed away and I can't do anything. I don't want anybody to feel that, it's horrible."
The entire five-bedroom house share was raided yet fellow residents have declined to speak to the police, and also the Essex Chronicle.
Anyone with information can either contact Detective Constable Chris Sydric on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Mr Fong also urges readers to contact him directly on 07861 499 879 if they can help.
