Fears grow over "rife" thieving at Queen Alexandra Hospital as items stolen from dead woman

The incident involving the female patient, who died on Good Friday, comes after a delirious 83-year-old man had his gold wedding ring ripped off his hand while he slept overnight on Friday April 5 resulting in a police investigation, as previously reported. 

The pensioner had worn the ring without ever taking it off for the last 50 years. The ring was described as being of great sentimental value after his wife passed away three years ago, with it inscribed with her name “Mary”.

The victim’s daughter Laura Martin told The News previously: “A low-life scum literally ripped it off his hand while he slept overnight. He has delirium and he doesn't know what’s going on most of the time which makes it worse. Dad remembers it was ripped off his hand in the dark.

“It’s inscribed with ‘Mary’ and a date. I want this found. Mum died three years ago and he hasn’t taken it off for 50 years. Help me find it please.”

The incident sparked revelations from others claiming they knew of thefts taking place at the hospital - including shockingly from a patient who died. A woman, speaking on behalf of her grieving friend, told The News: “My friend's mother passed away at the hospital on Good Friday. Sadly some of her belongings went missing, a mobile phone and cash from her purse. A friend of hers who was in QA a few weeks ago had her Apple ear pods go missing. Is theft rife there?”

Another person told The News thefts had been taking place at the hospital for many years. He said: “This practice (stealing) has been ongoing for years. I myself had a silver necklace stolen whilst I was at QA hospital following a brain haemorrhage many years ago.

“I felt the chain being taken from my neck but was completely unable to protect myself due to the nature of why I was at hospital. I then witnessed someone walking away down a corridor after taking my necklace.”

Others, responding on The News’ social media, previously gave similar accounts. One person said: “My 90 year old dad had a gold necklace stolen at QA last year, which his late wife gave him many, many years ago.”

Another wrote: “I've experienced a similar thing many years ago when my mum was in QA, no one knew anything about it.”

A third said: “Disgusting. Unfortunately we had valuables stolen from a family member in the past too.” 

Peter Ridley, chief officer at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust said of the wedding ring theft: “We are very sorry this incident occurred whilst the patient was in our care and for the distress this has caused. The theft has been reported to the police and we have launched an internal review into the incident to ensure we can learn any lessons and improve the management and safety of patient property. We are in contact with the patient and their family and will share the outcomes with them.”

He added: “We ask all patients to not bring valuables into the hospital whenever possible, however we understand that some items, like wedding rings, hold huge sentimental value and are not regularly removed by patients. Our security leads have been working with the local neighbourhood policing team to increase their presence on the hospital site and the relocation of some CCTV cameras is currently under review.”

A police spokesperson previously said: “We received a report at 11.53am on Saturday 6 April of a theft at QA Hospital. It was reported that some time between 5pm on Friday 5 April and 11am on 6 April, a patient aged in his 80s had a wedding ring removed from his finger whilst he was in hospital.”