A home was ransacked by heartless thieves who stole jewellery from children.

Yet another Asian family are picking up the pieces of their home following a raid in Halstead.

The victims were out visiting other family members at the time of the raid but returned to discover parts of their home had been trashed in a search for the jewellery.

One of the victims, who the Gazette agreed not to name, said: “They broke two doors to get in and smashed a fence panel at the back.

“They didn’t touch anything downstairs, they went straight upstairs and made a huge mess.

“They broke up all of my cosmetic jewellery and smashed the gold on my bangles.

“But all they ended up stealing were some kids’ earrings.

“It’s the shock of being broken into that is the worst thing. My kids were so scared and my daughter hasn’t been able to sleep since it happened.”

The victims of the burglary are still waiting for the doors broken during the raid to be fixed and estimate it will cost hundreds of pounds to replace the damaged jewellery.

They fear the home was targeted by criminals who may have been watching the house prior to the break-in.

The victim added: “Someone must have known we weren’t in.

“My neighbour and ourselves have had weird phone calls asking our names and personal details.

“They are keeping an eye on us somehow.

“I think people really do need to start making themselves safe.

“Alarms are really important and they aren’t that expensive so its definitely the one thing I would advise people to get.”

Another resident of Mathews Close told the Gazette there have been previous burglaries in the area throughout the last 18 months.

She said: “There’s been quite a few along this road.

“Three weeks ago one of the neighbours had their front window smashed by people breaking into their house.

“There’s also been a car stolen by someone who broke into the house to steal the keys.

“It’s quite worrying.”

Essex Police is investigating the incident which took place between 3.30pm and 8.20pm on Friday, January 5.

The burglary comes just days after district commander Craig Carrington and a crime prevention officer from Essex Police visited Braintree Al Falah Islamic Centre on Silks Way, to help tackle a wave of burglaries involving Asian families throughout the Braintree district.

They offered advice to residents on how to secure their homes after break ins as well as provide an update on a number of investigations.

Imam Kashif Ahmed said: “This reassurance is really good for the community and means a lot to us. There have been 15 burglaries in the last two months, and the majority of these residents were at the mosque during the speech, so this was really effective.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101.