£25,000 burglary whilst victim was on holiday

The stolen van - which has since been recovered

John Banter fell victim to £25,000 burglary after thieves ransacked his home in Littleborough, whilst he was on holiday.

The thieves stole £9,000 worth of jewellery, £920 in cash, three televisions including a wall bracket, two Apple iPads, two Apple iPhones, an Apple laptop, a DVD player, a surround sound system, a Segway, fishing equipment, an Xbox, drills and a watch.

Mr Banter, 40, who works as an artificial grass fitter, had had CCTV installed several days before going away, but returned to find that the fuse and fuse holder had been ripped out.

He believes the thieves were in his house for two and a half hours as the cameras detected the thieves at 12:27am and a neighbour heard some commotion at approximately 3am.

The thieves left damage in their wake, having slashed a sofa and broken one television stand, before stealing Mr Banter’s work van.

The van was recovered in Syke, but the thieves made off with his equipment, including drills, strimmers and a whacker plate amongst other items amounting to the value of £7,000.

Mr Banter also believes the thieves returned as a second whacker plate in his shed was present when relatives and police visited the property on 24 August, but this had vanished by Friday 26 August.

Upon returning from his holiday, Mr Banter has since had a new alarm system fitted plus face recognition cameras.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “We can confirm that we are investigating the incident, although no arrests have been made.

“If anyone saw any unusual activity, we urge them to come forward and contact the police on 101.”