The family of a Devon man who died in a single-vehicle crash has launched an initiative for police to compassionately return a loved one's belongings.
Chris Wale, from Sidmouth, died in June 2023 after he suffered a heart attack while driving.
His wife, Marian, said his possessions were returned to the family in a plastic Marks and Spencer carrier bag, and said "if they were handed to me in a box, it's something you can put the lid on and put away".
The experience inspired Mrs Wale to launch Compassionate Boxes, a not-for-profit organisation which provides specialist boxes for police to return belongings to a family.
Mrs Wale created the boxes, funded through donations, alongside Devon and Cornwall Police and bereavement counsellor Teresa Murphy.
"As soon as I got the plastic bag, I just had to get them out of there," Mrs Wale said.
"I had to get the belongings out and to be honest, I just washed them.
"We thought, 'what can we do so that people are given their loved ones belongings back?', so we thought of a box."
'Sensitive and sympathetic'
In addition to personal belongings, the boxes contained support leaflets, knitted hearts, a lavender bag, a shoe bag, a poem and knitted teddies for children.
"I believe it will make a big difference. To think that somebody has put that box together with all those other little bits, those little touches," Mrs Wale added.
The group has already delivered 30 boxes to Exeter Police Station and planned to donate more across Devon and Cornwall.
The Serious Collision Investigation Team said it would use them to return belongings to families in a sensitive and sympathetic way.
