After realising they had burgled a disabled woman in Istanbul, ashamed thieves had a change of heart and returned the stolen goods, local media reported on Thursday.

“We are thieves but we have a conscience. We are really sorry. We didn’t know that you were disabled. Please forgive us,” wrote the anonymous note.

The burglars last month broke into the apartment of Emriye Celebi, a 50-something civil servant residing in the Maltepe district on the Asian side of the city and stole a computer, a camera and a video recorder.

Celebi told Sabah newspaper that she had lost hope of getting her stolen items back after not hearing from the police for a long time but surprisingly found her computer and camera late Sunday on her apartment door.

“They haven’t returned my videotape recorder. I hope they will do so soon,” Celebi said.