A 92-YEAR-OLD veteran is “completely distraught” after all his wartime diaries and family heirlooms were stolen from his shed.

Eric Edis, who lives alone in Oak Hill Court, Woodford Green, says he “feels like a part of his life has been stolen” since they went missing on April 5. 

As well as his memoirs, he has lost around 60 wartime newspapers his mother kept while he was away, a 150-year-old sewing machine belonging to his great-grandmother, and equipment from a round-the-world trip he made to Australia and back in 1957.

Mr Edis, who joined the RAF as a tail gunner in 1943, said: “I can’t even begin to evaluate how much I’ve lost.

“Apart from my daughters, they were the most important thing I had.

“I’m completely shocked and distressed.”

The 92-year-old made the shocking discovery when his daughter came to visit and told him Waltham Forest Council had started work to remove some asbestos from the communal shed area.

When Mr Edis first found about the work in October last year, he contacted the council on several occasions giving strict instructions “not to go into his shed without him being there or without his permission”.

He was assured he would get a letter to tell him when the maintenance was due to start – but he nor any of his neighbours received one.

So when he and his daughter found the sheds had been broken into, all of his possessions removed, and random ones that did not belong to him put in their place, Mr Edis “struggled to contain his anger”.

He said: “I nearly collapsed I was so angry.

“It’s criminal as far as I’m concerned, I own my flat and that shed is my property, they had absolutely no right.”

After floods of unanswered emails and phone calls to the council, Mr Edis became “so frustrated” he went to the police.

Since April 17 the widower has been to Chingford Police Station three times, with two home visits from an officer.

They told him to check whether the council had incorrectly put his things in any of his neighbours’ sheds. 

But when he informed officers they were still nowhere to be seen, they told him his missing treasures “did not warrant a crime reference number”.

Without a reference number, his insurance company is refusing to pay out, and with no word from the council, Mr Edis is still in distress.

He said: “My things were all wrapped up and there was no asbestos anywhere near my shed.

“You have to have been in a war to be able to understand what it’s like.

“There are things I don’t want to talk about – I lost friends.

“But it was all in those diaries – and now they’re gone.

“If someone came and said sorry it’d be a start, but no one will even talk to me about.”

Mr Edis is registering a formal complaint with the Metropolitan Police, who said they could not comment on his case.

Waltham Forest Council has been contacted for a statement.