Compassionate boxes to help bereaved families

The family of a Devon man who died in a single-vehicle crash has launched an initiative for police to compassionately return a loved one's belongings.

Chris Wale, from Sidmouth, died in June 2023 after he suffered a heart attack while driving.

His wife, Marian, said his possessions were returned to the family in a plastic Marks and Spencer carrier bag, and said "if they were handed to me in a box, it's something you can put the lid on and put away".

The experience inspired Mrs Wale to launch Compassionate Boxes, a not-for-profit organisation which provides specialist boxes for police to return belongings to a family.

Mrs Wale created the boxes, funded through donations, alongside Devon and Cornwall Police and bereavement counsellor Teresa Murphy.

"As soon as I got the plastic bag, I just had to get them out of there," Mrs Wale said.

"I had to get the belongings out and to be honest, I just washed them.

"We thought, 'what can we do so that people are given their loved ones belongings back?', so we thought of a box."

In addition to personal belongings, the boxes contained support leaflets, knitted hearts, a lavender bag, a shoe bag, a poem and knitted teddies for children.

"I believe it will make a big difference. To think that somebody has put that box together with all those other little bits, those little touches," Mrs Wale added.

The group has already delivered 30 boxes to Exeter Police Station and planned to donate more across Devon and Cornwall.

The Serious Collision Investigation Team said it would use them to return belongings to families in a sensitive and sympathetic way.

Ms Murphy, who runs a bereavement group in Sidmouth, said: "If you can imagine, those belongings were with that person at that moment when they passed away so they are very, very important.

"You want to remember those people, you want to remember that these are the things they had with them, but at that time you may not want to, or you may not be able to look at them.

"Having a box means you can take them away, you can put them somewhere and you can go back at a later date and open that box and go through them."

Sgt James Gallienne said: "Sadly we have far too many fatal and serious injury road traffic collisions on our roads at the moment.

"From a policing perspective, it's just fantastic that we can now provide this level of service to people in the future.

"Through such a tragic and sad incident, for the family to actually be able to come out with these boxes which can help families in the future is just massive and it'll go a really long way."

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