Thieves steal girl's wheelchair

Julie suffers from spinal muscular atrophy

"Callous" thieves have stolen a wheelchair belonging to a terminally-ill youngster from outside a house on Teesside.

It happened early on Tuesday morning while the girl was staying with her sister in Upleatham Street in Saltburn.

Angela Mangan said the chair was the only way her 11-year-old daughter, Julie, is able to get about.

Two women and a man were seen pushing the chair away and Cleveland Police are appealing for information.

'Daughter devastated'

Julie has suffered from spinal muscular atrophy since she was born and needs the wheelchair to be able to get around

Speaking to BBC News Online on Wednesday, Ms Mangan said: "I just can't believe that people can be so callous.

"It was obviously there because there was a disabled person there.

"Julie was devastated, because she was supposed to be going out swimming with her friends and they had been staying with her.

"She said 'my pushchair was there - why couldn't they have taken that instead, it could have been replaced?'."

The family has been able to borrow a wheelchair, but Ms Mangan is desperate to have Julie's chair returned.