A FAMILY who lost £45,000 property during two burglaries within ten days are desperate to get a stolen rocking horse back.
 

A house in Fordham was broken into on December 16 with electrical items and furniture worth £26,000 taken.
 

Burglars smashed their way in and a temporary entrance was put in place.
Crooks then smashed through this temporary entrance on Christmas Eve and stole another £19,000 worth of goods including a £6,000 rocking horse.
 

Det Sgt Nick Eliot said: "The rocking horse was manufactured by Stevenson Bros, who are based in Ashford, and had a name plaque with "Rupert’s Choice” embossed on it.
 

“This second burglary in the space of only a few weeks has left this family devastated and, rightfully, angry.
 

“We recovered some photographs of the item from a property in Boxted and so want to hear from anyone who has been sold it during the past few weeks to get in touch with us. As Fordham is near to the Suffolk border, there is the possiblity that residents living there may have been offered the horse.
 

“We would like to reunite this treasured, valued rocking horse with its owner and his family.
 

“The father bought it in 1996 for his youngest son and is a family heirloom which obviously cannot be replaced. It had been a permanent fixture in the house.”
 

Following the burglaries officers raided a home in Cooks Hill, Boxted, on January 31.
 

They found about 1,000 items believed to have been stolen during several burglaries in Essex and Suffolk during the previous six months.
 

Officers are still working their way through the stolen loot.
 

Two people have been arrested and charged on suspicion of burglary.
 

Mark Page, a 45-year-old unemployed man from Cooks Hill in Boxted, was charged with four counts of handling stolen goods.
 

Jolene Howard, a 30-year-old unemployed woman also from Cooks Hill in Boxted, was charged with six counts of handling stolen goods and one count of being in possession of Class B drugs.
 

Both have appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court and been remanded into custody.
 

They are due to appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday, April 14.
 

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the rocking horse are urged to contact detectives at Witham police station on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.