THOUSANDS of pounds of family jewellery have been taken from an Andover property following a break-in in “broad daylight” earlier this month.

Nathan Nagarajan, of Woodpeckers, in Heather Drive, says he and his family returned from a day trip to Bath on Friday, July 12, to find their home had been broken into and ransacked.

He said: “We found that our flat's main door had been tampered with. When we went inside the house, we found the whole place been ripped out and thrown everywhere.”

Nathan says that after searching the house, he found various items of jewellery had been taken, including three sets of family jewels worth up to £11,000 in total.

The jewels had been passed down through many generations. Cash worth £600 was also found to be missing.

Nathan and his family had left for Bath at midday. He says the trip was a spontaneous one and so they had not told anyone about it.

They returned to Andover at 5.30pm but went straight to a friend's house for dinner and did not get home until 10.30pm, at which point they discovered the burglary.

The police have been made aware of the crime and say that the situation is ongoing.

Nathan said: “The police have sent an email to us saying that pending investigations have been completed and they are waiting for the forensic evidence to be analysed.”

He has urged anyone who may have similar items to be careful and to take precautions.

Nathan added that he and his family have been into pawn shops in the area, including as far as Eastleigh and Southampton, to see if anyone has been trying to sell on the stolen jewels.

Anyone with any information or who might have been offered the stolen goods should call 101 quoting reference 44190243840.