WE'LL MEET AGAIN... IN COURT

The plucky 82-year-old said if she been home when thieves smashed their way in she would have "had a go".

She added: "I would have

loved to have had a face-to-face with them. I would have had

a go and given them a chorus

of We'll Meet Again - in court."

The wartime Forces sweetheart, robbed of antique furniture, said she wants the thieves caught and brought to justice.

Angry

As messages of sympathy poured in from around the country, Dame Vera revealed how she has now been robbed nine times.

This week's break-in was the third at her house in Ditchling, but former homes in London were raided six times. Widowed last year, Dame Vera told the Argus: "It just makes me angry and upset that people can do this."

As a repeated victim of crime, she will be offered a check-up on her home alarms and security systems by police, but Dame Vera said: "I have alarms but these criminals don't seem to care what you have."

Alarms were triggered as the thieves smashed their way through French doors at the back of her home. They were in and out in

seconds, carrying off a valuable painting, clock and table. Dame Vera said attacks on the elderly and vulnerable were disgraceful: "An elderly woman in the village here had her only coat and some cash stolen not so long ago. She didn't have much anyway.

"I just think it is terrible people do these things."

Tuesday's burglary happened at 3.30pm and police are appealing for anyone with information to

contact Det Con Richard Bebb at Haywards Heath on 0845 60 70 999.

Relatives and neighbours told of their anger at the break-in. Dame Vera's daughter, Virginia Jones, described the thieves as "disgusting parasites living off other people's hard work" and added: "They just have no conscience."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.