Milkman Is Hailed A Burglary Hero

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Reassuring Southfields family after they are woken by burglar

A Wimbledon milkman has been hailed as a hero after helping calm and reassure a Southfields resident when her home was burgled.

Ian Beardwell, who works at the milk&more Wimbledon depot, was completing his milk round at 4am when he noticed the front door of a house wide open and all the lights on. Concerned, Ian rang the doorbell and waited for a response before asking whether everything was OK.

Ian was greeted by local TV producer Sasha Rickerd. Visibly very frightened, Sasha told Ian that she and her young daughter had been woken when she heard someone break into her home.

Too scared to do anything other than turn on lights and pace around in an effort to warn the burglars that someone was at home, Sasha was yet to call the police and check whether anyone was still inside.

Ian however offered to wait at Sasha’s door until she had done this, reassuring and calming her at the same time. Once Sasha had called the police, Ian completed his milk round but circled back 10 minutes later to check on Sasha and let her know he had spotted the police and checked they were going to respond.

After the incident, Sasha contacted the milk&more Wimbledon depot to thank Ian for his actions, as well as texting Ian personally and giving him a thank you gift. To thank Sasha for giving milk&more the chance to recognise and celebrate Ian’s actions, the Wimbledon depot also gifted Sasha a hamper.

This is not the first time milkman Ian has helped members of the local community. In the past he has found lost cats and dogs, returned a lost laptop after finding it on the road and even chased car thieves.

On Ian’s actions, local resident Sasha Rickerd said; “Ian was extraordinarily reassuring and simply lovely. Moments like this can feel unbelievably lonely and vulnerable, especially as my young daughter was with me, but Ian completely understood that I was frightened and went out of his way to help. His presence made a horrible circumstance immeasurably better and I cannot thank him enough for taking the time to help us - complete strangers to him.”

On the award, milkman Ian commented: “I was happy to help Sasha, just as I hope anyone would have done. I understand that these kind of situations can be very scary and am just happy that she and her daughter and now safe and well.”

Operations Manager for milk&more Trevor Sayer said: “Ian’s actions are emblematic of all that the milkman does and should do for the local community. As well as providing a friendly face, caring ear and dozens of daily essentials, milkmen also regularly go above and beyond to help customers and other members of the public. They are an integral part of the community. I want to take this opportunity to thank Ian for his exemplary actions and Sasha for taking the time to bring this to our attention. Well done Ian.”

December 18, 2017