THIEVES have left a Suffolk family worried for their security after striking at their house twice over the Easter weekend.After stealing a gas barbecue and tools worth £300 the cheeky thieves returned the next day to take the garden furniture worth another £300.

THIEVES have left a Suffolk family worried for their security after striking at their house twice over the Easter weekend.

After stealing a gas barbecue and tools worth £300 the cheeky thieves returned the next day to take the garden furniture worth another £300.

Diana Green, 58, of Campion Crescent, Combs Ford, said: "The family is very upset as the barbecue had sentimental value because the children bought it for my husband Roger on his retirement two years ago."

The couple share the home with their three children, Anisoarea, 12, Hana, 10 and Aminat five and a four-year-old Yorkshire Terrier called Georgette.

Mrs Green added: "The burglars must have been very quiet, as they didn't disturb Georgette or the bigger dog next door. They were very clever as they took the screws out of the fence, slid the panels across, dragged the stuff through, and then replaced the screws so it was difficult to see what they had done.

"There must have been more than one of them as the gas barbecue and wooden furniture was very heavy. The only evidence left were footprints to show where they had been"

The incidents last Saturday and Sunday night were the first the family had heard about since reports of prowlers many years ago.

Mrs Green added: "It makes me feel sick to think that someone has been prowling about in my back garden whilst we were still asleep."

Mr Green used to work at Highpoint Prison and now works there part time as a chaplain.

The family is now thinking of putting up barbed wire to stop it happening again.

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