A retired transgender security guard from Thamesmead has been left "gutted" after her lodger made off with three of her corsets.

Roxanne Yeatman, who lives in a ground floor bedsit in Ricardo Path, says she let the 44-year-old alcoholic stay for a week so she could escape her abusive, drug-taking boyfriend.

But the woman allegedly repaid this generosity by making off with four black suspender belts and three corsets, leaving her with just one.

Roxanne, 65, told News Shopper: "It’s left me gutted.

"I help somebody out and they go and do this to me.

"If she’d asked for them I’d have given them to her but she didn’t - she stole them.

"What gets me is she said she never wears suspender belts or things like that so why did she take them?

"The corsets were all brand new, all black and I’d only worn one of them.

"One of them she took was a nice all-in-one with flowers on it."

Roxanne, who is planning to have full sexual reassignment surgery this year, bought the corsets on eBay for a total of £50, including the suspender belts.

The alleged thief announced she was leaving on the night of March 15.

But the following morning, when Roxanne checked the clothes cupboard in her front room, she found it was bare.

Roxanne shared her fold-out bed with the thief for a week but says she feels no animosity towards her and just wants her clothes back.

She said: "She’s going to have to answer some serious questions. Why did she do it?

"She wasn’t skint, she wasn’t hard up.

"I fed her, I helped her try and get off the bottle and then she decides to go and do this."

News Shopper:

Roxanne on the bed she shared with the thief. 

Roxanne, who has four daughters aged 41, 40, 39 and 25, claims police did not take the incident seriously when she reported it.

She said: "According to the sergeant, they can’t nick her because nobody saw what happened."

Roxanne, a former Army Gunner in the Royal Artillery who used to be known as Doug, added: "I was born in the wrong body.

"I used to play with the girls rather than the boys when I was little.

"I was married 21 years then I thought the grass was greener on the other side.

"It wasn't bad for that time but something went wrong and then I thought I will be what I want to be now."

Roxanne is hoping to have the six-hour reassignment surgery done on the NHS and says she will be "very relieved" when it's done.

She said: "My family haven't got anything bad to say about it, it's down to me.

"They don't mind and it's nothing to do with them really. "My middle daughter says 'it's down to you Dad - it's your life and your body'.

Met police have confirmed they are investigating an allegation of theft. No arrests have been made.

Call Thamesmead Safer Neighbourhoods team on 020 8721 2630.

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