'Horrific' burglary stuns family of dead student

William Thode. Photo / Supplied

Thieves broke into the home of a Kings College student who died in his sleep last week taking thousands of dollars worth of electronics, including a computer bearing his childhood photos.

A large funeral was held for William Richard Thode, 15, at the college on Monday and his Remuera home was hit yesterday about 3pm.

William's uncle Peter Motion said two computers and a number of electronic devices - worth in excess of $10,000 - were taken, but the family's only concern was the Apple Mac with the photos.

He pleaded with the thieves to drop the hard drive or a memory stick with the photos off to a police station or the Herald.

Mr Motion said the family still had a photo montage of William that was played at the funeral, but all other pictures of him growing up with brothers Oliver, 13, and Sam, 11, were lost.

"He just died and was buried yesterday," he said. "In 24 hours for this to happen is pretty horrific for the family."

Mr Motion said neighbours saw teenagers in hoodies loading a TV into a white Subaru station wagon. They yelled out at the teens and tried to follow the wagon, but lost sight of it, he said.

Anyone with information on the burglary is urged to contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.