A young Liverpool FC fan's dream holiday was ruined when his new football shirt, signed by two of the club's legends, "disappeared" from his hotel.
Coby Graydon, nine, was delighted after having his Liverpool FC jumper signed by former players Sammy Lee and Mark Wright following a tour of the Anfield Stadium on Saturday, April 1. But just a few hours later, his happiness turned into heartbreak after the shirt mysteriously went missing from a room at the Leonardo Hotel on Keel Wharf, dad Ryan claims.
Ryan, 28, said: "I'm absolutely heartbroken. Coby waited so long for this trip, and in the end his dream was spoiled. It's just awful. I worked so hard to save some money up to bring him here, and I feel like it's been for nothing."
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Ryan and Coby flew from Dublin to Liverpool early on Saturday morning for the Anfield tour. Afterwards, they headed to the Leonardo Hotel, where they were told they had arrived too early for check-in - but were allowed to leave their luggage while they waited for their room, in exchange for a ticket.
When they returned nearly two hours later, Ryan presented his ticket to a member of staff, who went to retrieve their bags. But when they went up to their room and checked their things, Ryan claims the bag containing the signed jumper was missing.
But a spokesman for Leonardo Hotels, formerly known as Jurys Inn, maintained that all luggage handed over to staff was safely returned.
Ryan said: "I thought not to worry, it's probably downstairs. I went down and showed the staff member a picture of the jumper, and a few minutes later she came out red-faced and panicking and said 'I don't know where it is'.
"The manager came out and said she checked the CCTV and we only came in with two Liverpool bags and a schoolbag. But when I went back to my room and double-checked, there was three bags and a schoolbag. So I knew from there-on something was wrong.
"I went back down to reception. The deputy manager came out and said there was nothing they could do, the jumper was gone."
He said he was offered vouchers for two free drinks at the hotel bar to make up for the loss of the jumper. He later issued a complaint with the hotel.
In a reply which was also shared with The Echo, a spokesman said: "We take all claims of theft extremely seriously. We hold many items belonging to guests securely without any suggestion of wrongdoing in the past. Having reviewed the situation thoroughly, including the many CCTV camera sin and around the reception area and back-office where the items were securely stored, all three bags were returned to the guest as received, which is very clear from the video evidence and matches the luggage tickets handed in. It was sometime later that a bag was reported missing. However, that claim does not match the luggage tickets provided nor the video evidence."
He added that the hotel staff would be willing to work with police to defend against the "alleged allegations".
Ryan said: "Coby is a die-hard Liverpool fan. He eats, sleeps and breathes them. He's been a fan since he was one or two; he's football crazy. This trip was something he was looking forward to for a long time. It was a dream come true.
"It was a real treat for him to go and see the legends and take pictures and have his shirt signed by them. Now all he has to remember it is the pictures. He's really heartbroken."
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