Four-year-old’s birthday ruined when masked teenagers steal her egg stand

A four-year-old girl had her birthday party ruined by balaclava-clad teenagers who destroyed her egg stand.

Maisie Willis was celebrating her fourth birthday on April 18 and had spent the morning collecting eggs from her pet chickens.

Her parents had bought her a small wooden shop front, where she could sit and sell boxes of eggs to the neighbours.

But while Maisie, her family and friends, were celebrating in the back garden, two teenagers wearing balaclavas snatched the shop front.

A neighbour spotted the youths and confronted them – but the teens just laughed. When Maisie’s parents stepped outside, they saw the shop front broken in the street, with all of the eggs smashed on the ground.

Maisie’s dad, Tony, of Southampton, said: ‘Maisie has some chickens in the back garden that she has as pets. She boxes up and sells the eggs, basically to put money back into the chickens and pay for food and upkeep.

‘We bought her a toy shop front that she puts out on the front driveway, and attached a lockable moneybox to it. She’s got regulars that come every week, which is great.’

Tony said he and his wife, Chelsea, had been throwing a party for Maisie’s fourth birthday when his sister-in-law came into the garden and told them someone had taken her egg stand.

‘I thought she was winding me up,’ Tony admitted. ‘At that point, I noticed that my wife and a few other family members were congregated in the front driveway, looking a bit confused.

‘Somebody had actually come along and stolen the entire egg stand – moneybox and eggs included. Fortunately, one of our neighbours happened to see two lads walking down a side alleyway with it.’

‘She questioned what they were doing, at which point they just laughed and continued on their way.’

Chelsea then discovered the remains of the egg stand and broke the news to a devastated Maisie.

‘She found the stand, smashed up and broken, around the corner, and then a bit further down the street, there were the eggs and egg boxes all strewn across the road and smashed up,’ Tony said.

‘It wasn’t a very nice experience for Maisie or the rest of us.’

The family shared photos of the thieves on social media – and quickly found the identity of one of the boys, who visited to apologise to Maisie.

‘We posted that there wouldn’t be any eggs for a little while, because of what happened,’ Tony said. ‘In the images, we could only see one of them clearly enough to make any recognition, but my wife’s sister knew who it was and where he lives.

‘My wife went and explained what effect he’d had and politely asked if he would come and apologise to the four-year-old girl whose business he’d ruined – and he did, he came and apologised half-heartedly.

‘My wife took her outside and said this is the lad that ruined the egg stand, and she immediately started crying.’

Despite the experience being traumatic for young Maisie, the family and local community are incredibly proud of her for her resilience and business smarts.

‘A few of the neighbours have come round and delivered extra little gifts to Maisie, and we’ve had lots of kind words from the neighbours,’ Tony said.

‘Obviously, she gets help from my wife and me, but she’s going to go far, I’m sure. She’s got a wonderful life ahead of her with her business brain.’

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