An antiques enthusiast has made a desperate appeal for help after family heirlooms were stolen.

A total of 33 items from Sue Haynes’s treasured collection went missing while work was carried out before she moved into her new home.

The 65-year-old was renovating her property in Park Road, Ramsgate, before moving down from Weybridge in Surrey.

When Sue returned after the Christmas break she found all of the items had been taken.

She went looking for the items and came across some of them at an antiques shop where they were on sale.

Miss Haynes said: “I went on a hunt because the police said they needed more evidence.

“The pieces have been in the family for a long while and to see them on sale like that was devastating.

“I had to call the police so they could seize the items.

“It made me feel so sick. When you have things like that you want to pass them down in the family and when something like this happens it’s sickening.”

Although she has managed to recover 26 items that were taken, she is continuing to try to trace the remaining seven.

The property and antiques were left to her by her uncle and have been in her family for generations.

She added: “I’m finding it very difficult to deal with.

“I’m just hoping that people out there will understand that I’m happy to give them what they paid for it.

“I hope they’re human enough to see how they would feel.”

'I hope they’re human enough to see how they would feel' - Sue Haynes

The pieces that are still missing include a 20in bronze horse, a wood-crafted balcony table which was handmade by Miss Haynes’s uncle, a matt white Parian lamp and a small tilt-top table.

Also still missing are three Japanese paintings and a reproduction of an antique drinks cabinet and butler’s tray.

Miss Haynes said: “I have always known the horse since I was a baby, there’s even a chip that was taken out of it which I’m responsible for.

“People say they’re only things but it’s upsetting.”