A grandmother who had her precious jewellery stolen when her bungalow was burgled is appealing for help.

Christine Collins, 74, was forced to spend the night in her armchair after the intruder smashed the glass in her bedroom window and made off with her treasured possessions.

Ms Collins, of Wrotham Road, Meopham, arrived home from work at 8pm on December 29 to find her room ransacked and glass all over her bed.

“At first I thought it was my Doberman, but he was locked in the kitchen,” she said.

“All sorts of thoughts go through your head. You can’t think straight.”

She said she was glad her dog, Major, was shut in another room.

“You hear about dogs being attacked. I could not have lived with myself if something had happened to him.”

‘All sorts of thoughts go through your head...’

The widow called police who taped off the crime scene and forbid Christine from entering the bedroom.

“I had to sit on the armchair all night waiting for them to call back,” she said. “I could’t even go into my room to get my night things.

“Fortunately my friend was able to come round and board up the windows.”

Christine, who has lived alone since her husband died of cancer 12 years ago, thinks the burglar may have been watching her as he knew when she would be out of the house.

“It’s a busy road at that time of night,” she said. “So he was taking his chances, but I think he knew I wouldn’t be in.”

Anyone with information should click on this link quoting reference number 46-228605-23.