Thieves broke into a house at The Hill, in Charing, and made off with possessions including hi-fi equipment, cash and clothing valued at some £15,000.

“A considerable amount of property was removed from the house and it would have taken time to load up a vehicle,” said Det-Con Nathan Scamp.

Items stolen included a Toshiba 32-inch flat screen TV, a Sony DVD player, an Apple Mackintosh 21.5 inch computer, a Panasonic hi-fi stacked music centre, a Panasonic Blue Ray disc player, as well as signed photos of Martin Johnson lifting the 2003 Rugby World Cup and Jason Robinson scoring a try at the same event.

A silver 'Kirin’ Tag Heuer watch and an original Holly Freane painting of 16 individual dog’s heads, and two picture prints entitled 'I love You’ and 'Summer Days’ were also taken.

“I would like to speak to anyone who saw any suspicious vehicles or persons in the area during the time frame of the incident,” added DC Scamp.

The burglary occurred between 4pm on Thursday, October 29, and 8.30am the following day.