An elderly woman has told how she is too frightened to return to her home after a burglars ransacked her Swadlincote house and stole treasured jewellery worth up to £20,000.

The 79-year-old woman, who has lived in her semi-detached home for 53 years, says she is too scared to go back and has lost all her confidence since the burglary.

The incident has caused upset for the grandmother and her family as police have said that all lines of inquiry aimed at catching the raiders have been exhausted at the moment - although they will re-open the case if new evidence emerges.

The victim has been left "destroyed" by the burglary

The mother-of-five, who the Burton Mail has chosen not to name, is now living with her daughter. The break-in happened at around 6.15pm on Saturday, January 6. She was returning home with her daughter when two raiders were spotted fleeing the house by climbing over a garden wall. It is thought there might also have been a third man as the family heard noises from inside the house.

This week her family has said the raid had "completely destroyed" the gran, who is so upset she just sits crying.

Her son said: "It has completely destroyed her. She is nearly 80 and has aged 10 years in the last week, she is really introverted. She won't come back to the house so she is staying with my sister, she sits crying. It has just caused massive disruption to her life. She was someone who was confident to live here on her own so to think she won't ever get that back is heart breaking."

Two men were seeing running from the home with two carrier bags

The woman was being dropped off at home by her daughter after spending the day with her, when they realised something was wrong when they noticed the wheelie bins had been moved.

Much of jewellery was gold and altogether cost between £15,000 and £20,000

He said: "The wheelie bins are put in a position to block people getting round to the back of the house to gain access. My sister asked her what she had done with wheelie bins but she said she hadn't put them there and at that moment the security light sensor came on. A man poked his head round the corner of the house and ran up the garden.

Many of the items were sentimental and priceless

"My sister and her partner came round the back, saw the back door glass had been smashed where they had gained entry. They saw two men run down the garden and were climbing over the wall. My sister opened the back door and was sure she heard a noise upstairs so thought someone was still in the house at this point so they shut the door and locked it and called the police."

The family later realised the rooms upstairs had been ransacked and jewellery stored in at least four cupboards and jewellery boxes were missing. The possible third man was not located.

A watch stolen in the Swadlincote burglary

He said: "The jewellery was mainly gold, but a lot of it was sentimental, things my dad, who died 30 years ago, had bought her, her mother's jewellery, and my dad's mother's jewellery. There is also jewellery from Tiffany's, Pandora, and Vivien Westwood. Even her passport was taken.

"There were around 50 pieces of jewellery taken, worth between £15,000 and £20,000. She had taken photographs of some of the jewellery for insurance purposes but some of it you cannot put a value on."

Swadlincote Robbery
Pictured: One of the pieces of jewellery that was stolen from the house during the burglary

As the pensioner is well-known in her community, the family quickly started receiving names of people who might know about the break-in from contacts which were handed to the police.

However, the son, who is offering a reward if the jewellery is found, feels the police have not done enough to solve the incident. He has also visited pawn shops to ask if any had received any of the jewellery.

He said: "The police have closed the file. They said they won't reopen the investigation until they have new information.

"You put all your faith into the police but why bother?

"It is a shame because it has been a nice street to live in.

"She is a well-respected, good neighbour. It is quite a solid community. They do look out for each other. She always felt safe here.

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Pictured: The door that the people broke into the house
The door that the people broke into the house

"Her neighbours are really jumpy now because there has been not enough of a police presence. They have not been here since. They have not been in garden over the wall where we know they went to and where they jumped into the pond."

However, Derbyshire Police said their response to this incident was "robust and detailed" adding that officers had carried out extensive house-to-house enquiries, as well as forensic examinations. They also launched media appeals – but without photographs of the jewellery, which the family has now released to the Burton Mail.

Detective Inspector Ben Meakin, who oversees burglary investigations in south division for Derbyshire Constabulary, said: "The officer's response to this incident was robust and detailed, however, at this time all lines of enquiry have been exhausted.

"After the initial attendance at the crime scene officers conducted house-to-house enquiries, looked for CCTV cameras in the area, conducted forensic examinations of the scene and also released a media appeal.

"The house-to-house enquiries concluded that nobody in the area had seen or heard anything at the time the crime took place. CCTV in the area did not capture the offenders or anything else of evidential value.

"Forensic examination, which took place shortly after the crime, found evidence that could be linked to an offender. However, without a suspect this evidence is currently not able to assist in the solving of this crime.

"Photos of the crime scene were also taken and the method by which the burglary took place was also compared to other similar crimes to look for patterns of behaviour. As of this moment in time no links to other crimes have been established.

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Pictured: The garden chairs that the thieves used to get over the garden wall in order to get away.

"Details of the case were released to the media and a piece was run in the Burton Mail. The details were also run on Derbyshire police's own social media feeds which have 158,000 people between Twitter and Facebook accounts.

"Two pieces of active intelligence have been given to my officer. Both of which have been acted upon and have not yielded valuable lines of enquiry.

"At this time the report of this crime has been filed but the case will be reopened should further information come to light.

Swadlincote Robbery

"Help and assistance is available to victims of crime which provides a support worker for them to talk to and be listened to by. Links to specialist support agencies are also able to be provided as well as any support that a victim may want to help them cope and recover following a crime.

"If anyone has any information on the burglary they should contact Derbyshire police on the non-emergency 101 number quoting crime reference 18000009084."