A FRIGHTENED family today told how they were targeted by thieves less than two weeks after arsonists nearly burned down their home.Kevin Bunn, his wife Mimi and their 10-year-old daughter Mae have been stunned by the theft of a bike belonging to Mrs Bunn as it is the fourth time their Nacton Road garden has been broken into in a year.

A FRIGHTENED family today told how they were targeted by thieves less than two weeks after arsonists nearly burned down their home.

Kevin Bunn, his wife Mimi and their 10-year-old daughter Mae have been stunned by the theft of a bike belonging to Mrs Bunn as it is the fourth time their Nacton Road garden has been broken into in a year.

The family was only just recovering from being woken in the early hours of May 30 to find their house filling with toxic smoke as a deliberately lit fire raged outside, when thieves targeted their home for the third time.

Sometime between late Wednesday night and 4.45am on Thursday the thieves ignored a security camera and climbed over gates topped with razor wire to snatch a bicycle left in the rear garden of their first-floor flat.

They escaped with the padlocked three-year-old bike, worth only £40, after using fence panels to drag it over the eight-foot high gates and razor wire.

It follows the theft of another bike, the theft of a moped last month and, most recently, the arson attack, which destroyed £2,000 of goods belonging to the St Elizabeth Hospice shop below the Bunn's flat.

Mr Bunn said: "It's ridiculous. We shouldn't have to live like this. My wife is now on medication because she's worried every minute. She can't sleep.

"My daughter Mae is too scared to go outside now.

"Now we're worried they've stolen both our bikes, they've burned the sheds, are they going to come through the front door next?

"I don't know what to do other than move and we don't really want to do that."

The Bunn's say the trouble stems from the fact that children and teenagers regularly climb onto the roof of a Lloyds TSB branch next door. Mr Bunn believes the tearaways can see the contents of his shared back garden from the roof.

St Elizabeth Hospice, which runs the charity shop below the Bunn's flat, has upgraded security but the measures failed to deter the thieves. They also managed to avoid being caught on camera.

Helen Clarke, spokesman for the hospice, said: "It's so demoralising.

"The poor staff are thinking what's going to happen next and where will it stop?"

Lloyds TSB said it was aware of the problem with youths climbing on to the roof of the bank.

A spokeswoman for the bank said: "The branch manager doesn't feel there is anything more he can do. He does keep an eye on it and regular checks are made to ensure there are no holes in the razor wire."

The stolen bike is described as a white woman's bicycle with a shopping basket on the handlebars. Anyone with information about the theft should call Ipswich police on 01473 613 500.