'TWISTED' crooks who forced their way into a home while a family slept snatched bank cards before stealing a car off the driveway.

Kerry Ford shares a home with her mother, aged in her 60s, so she can offer close support and care.

She was at home with her mother, as well as her three children, aged 19, 12 and seven, when the burglars struck.

Kerry said: “The twisted thing is they looked through my mum’s bag and took her bank cards and took her car key off her key ring.

“No-one heard a thing.

“The police have said they popped the lock open with a screwdriver.

“They have gone through the back door and over the fence.

“The neighbours have a camera and you can see the lights go on in her car and it pulling out.”

She added: “They left the bag hanging on the fence when they jumped over.

“The neighbours spotted it in the morning.”

The wreckage of the stolen Vauxhall Mokka was later found in Boxted Avenue, Clacton.

The car had been set alight and left to burn, before fire crews arrived to tackle the flames.

An Essex Police spokesman said the house, in Epsom Close, Clacton, was burgled between midnight and 4.30am on Sunday.

The burning car was discovered at around 4.37am.

Kerry added: “I feel sick knowing they were in the house while we were all asleep.”

The burned out Vauxhall was one of four vehicles set alight in Boxted Avenue over the past week.

Crews were first called at 4.21am last Tuesday after arsonists set a moped on fire.

At around 5.21am last Thursday, crews were again called after a Audi A3 and Ford Focus were destroyed.

A resident, who asked not to be named, said: “I’ve lived here for seven years and I can’t say we’ve seen anything like this.

“I don’t have a car, but we don’t want to see fires right outside our homes.”

Anyone with information can call Essex Police on 101 quoting crime reference number 42/34012/19.