A PENSIONER is in shock today after thieves ransacked his home as he lay in a hospital bed.Peter Wall, 83, spent three nights at hospital suffering from heart problems and sickness and returned to his Dale Hall Lane home to discover his prized collection of antiques and other items totalling more than £22,000 had gone.

A PENSIONER is in shock today after thieves ransacked his home as he lay in a hospital bed.

Peter Wall, 83, spent three nights at hospital suffering from heart problems and sickness and returned to his Dale Hall Lane home to discover his prized collection of antiques and other items totalling more than £22,000 had gone.

Charles Wall, the pensioner's son, said his father had been buying antiques since the 70s and 80s and many of them had increased significantly in value over the years.

He said: “He is not feeling too bad now and I think he has accepted it really.

“He came out of hospital the day we discovered it but we told him before we took him home and I think he was quite shaken up at the time.

“The only consolation is he wasn't at home - I think he would have had a go if he was.

“Also, they didn't do any damage.”

Mr Wall said burglars had removed the glass in his father's downstairs window and laid pieces of wood removed from the window neatly on the floor.

Police are investigating whether the break-in is linked with other high-value antiques raids in Tuddenham Road, Ipswich and in the west of the county.

There has been several burglaries in the last few months where homes with high-value property have been targeted.

Detectives in Ipswich are liaising with colleagues elsewhere to see if there are any similarities between the break-ins.

The Dale Hall Lane burglary happened between 7pm on Wednesday, August 30 and 8.50am Saturday, September 2.

Thieves stole items including artwork, furniture, ornaments, ceramics, antiques, silverware and figurines.

Mr Wall, 52, said most of the items would be insured but his father did not expect their true value to be reclaimed.

Anyone with information about the burglary, or anyone who has been offered the items, should call Dc Paul Hutton at Ipswich CID on 01473 613500 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Have you been the victim of a burglary? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email: eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.

Weblink: www.suffolk.police.uk

A Ferdinande Preiss art deco sculpture made in the 1930s and valued at about £3,000 to £4,000.

A pair of oil paintings by William Watt Milne. The landscape paintings were valued at about £6,000 to £7,000 for the pair.

Three or four water colours.

A collection of porcelain birds.

Figurines of a shepherd and shepherdess.

A painting of Blythburgh Church by Edmond Morrison Wimperis.