THIEVES who stole thousands of pounds worth of jewellery from a house in Lower Moor two weeks ago have robbed a four-year-old girl of her inheritance.

Marilyn Williams, of Maytree Road, planned to leave the collection to her young granddaughter in her will and is still angry that it has fallen into the wrong hands.

Mrs Williams, 58, arrived home after a night out to find that the thieves had ransacked her home pulling drawers and cupboards out and leaving underwear and paperwork strewn on the bedroom floors.

Lifetime

At first she did not think that anything had been stolen but later realised that all her "good" jewellery, including a gold and jade necklace bought on a holiday of a lifetime in China, had gone.

"I'm still so angry," she said. "To think that someone had been into the house before me and left me to clear up the mess."

The thieves had smashed the back gate, a sun lounge door and an interior door to get in and used compost bags to cover security lights and hide their activities. Some of the compost was walked into the house. Mrs Walker continued: "The jewellery would have been part of my granddaughter's inheritance. I can't replace it, because you can't get the same stuff any more, and it was all presents from my husband and my boys when they first started work and some of the things were my mum's. In future I'm just going to buy cheap stuff so it won't matter if I lose it." Mrs Walker had high praise for the police and described them as "absolutely fantastic."

Anyone with information about the missing jewellery should telephone the police on 08457 444888.