Thieves smashed their way into a Rush Green home and stole a laptop containing hundreds of family photos, family jewellery and their children’s pocket money jars.
Teaching assistant Sarah Millard, 42, had been at work when she started to receive notifications from her bank to say that her credit cards had been blocked because of unusual spending - and she knew then that something was up.
It wasn’t until she got home that she realised her house had been burgled, and thieves had raided her bedroom and her son’s and daughter’s rooms too.
Thieves broke into her home in Rush Green Road between 8am and 2pm on Tuesday (September 25).
The first sign of the break in was when Sarah got home and saw the bottom panel of her back door had been smashed and thieves had thrown a brick through the door to gain entry.
They had also tried to smash their way in through her patio doors but hadn’t been successful.
The mum-of-two, who works at Harrow Lodge Primary School, said the thieves had taken a laptop from her bedroom with hundreds of family photos on - that her and her husband, Bill, were in the middle of transferring between phones.
Other missing items included her 12-year-old daughter’s Apple ear bud headphones, her Samsung tablet, and they had also stolen three jars of pocket money that belonged to her son.
William, 7, had been saving up birthday money, and loose change, and she thinks there was around £30 in the jars on the windowsill in his bedroom.
They had also taken around £600 in cash that Sarah and Bill had hidden away in their bedroom.
Sarah said her children have not been able to sleep since the burglary because they are scared someone is going to come into their bedroom.
She said: “It’s that feeling that someone has been in your home, you think it is your safe place.
“My little boy won’t go upstairs.
“My daughter has photos of her and her friends all over her bedroom, and the fact that they could look at those and still steal from her is beyond belief.”
She added: “They took all of my jewellery.
“Everything including plastic beaded necklaces that aren’t worth anything to a locket I was given when I was christened.” She said they also stole a number of expensive watches belonging to both her and her husband.
According to her credit card company the thieves went on a shopping spree after stealing her credit cards that were in an old purse in the house.
The company told her that they had spent around £150 in around 15 minutes, using the contactless cards in stores including Iceland, Safeways and Newsbox - all in Dagenham.
They had then gone to Chadwell Heath and then back to Dagenham where they had tried to use the card in Greenlands supermarket – but it had already been cut off.
Sarah said: “The distress of it all has been horrible.
“We’re still finding pieces of glass in the kitchen and we just don’t feel safe in our own home anymore.
“We just want to find out who did this, and want to warn others to be extra safe.”
Police confirmed that the burglary took place, and said that no arrests have been made.
A spokesman said that anyone with information should contact Havering police on 101, tweet @MetCC or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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