A Fazakerley mum broke down in tears after receiving an unexpected phone call from Aldi confirming that her missing locket, containing a picture and a lock of hair from her stillborn son, had been found.
Alison Johnson, 55, had worn the locket around her neck for 21 years as a memento of her son Ian, who was stillborn. She realised it was missing last Wednesday (August 19), believing it had fallen off the chain during a visit to Aldi on Copplehouse Lane in Fazakerley the previous day.
A devastating loss
The loss deeply upset Alison, particularly the lock of hair, which she described as the only memento she had of Ian. She told the ECHO on Tuesday afternoon: “The picture and locket fell off the link. It was only when I went to bed on Wednesday night that I went to feel the chain and there was no locket there.”
“All I had was that lock of hair. I felt like I was losing him again. I've got no memories, I've got nothing, just that lock of hair. I haven’t got any clothes he wore.”
She added: “I just felt devastated to be honest. I feel like I’m going through it again because I’ve lost it now and I’ve got nothing left. I’ve gone on and had another two boys but he was my first. I don't care if the locket is all broken, smashed in, I just want the lock of hair. I’ve got a copy of the photo.”
Appeal and discovery
Alison appealed for people in the area to keep an eye out for the locket. She informed the manager at Aldi in person but was initially told it wasn’t in the supermarket. A picture of the locket was also shared on the ECHO’s social media pages and other Facebook groups.
Yesterday, Alison received the news that the locket, complete with the hair, was in the Aldi store. Speaking to the ECHO this afternoon, she explained that she first learned of the development through a Facebook post.
She said: “Someone had put something on your ECHO post saying it had been handed in at in the Aldi. I messaged the girl saying, ‘what Aldi? Where did you get this information?’ And she just said, 'Fazakerley'. Then late on in the afternoon, the actual manager from the Aldi sent me a message asking me to call them. I called, and she just said to me, ‘we have your locket here.’”
Emotional reunion
“I just started crying. I was that bad, I had to ring my husband up and he had to get it. I couldn’t drive there because I felt that it wasn't true.”
She added: “Ironically, three other people in Liverpool had lost lockets and I kept being told mine had been found when it was another one, so I felt a bit deflated. When my husband came back with it, I was over the moon. I'm going to take some of his hair out, just so that if it ever happens again, I've got some. I’m going to get the locket soldered onto my chain now.”
Alison doesn’t know exactly how the locket was found but wanted to express her thanks to ECHO readers and Scousers generally. She said: “I don't know whether (the woman at Aldi) said, ‘we didn't have it when you came in’ or 'we did, but we hadn't logged it,' or what have you. But it was there. I think with the amount of people who read the ECHO, it must have got back to Aldi or someone who works there. The support was absolutely lovely. It was a horrible week that I went through and there was light at the end of the tunnel. The Liverpool community, we all stick together don’t we?”
