A grieving widow was left distraught when thieves ransacked her home and stole her late husband’s ashes.

Christine Isted returned to her home in Beambridge Court, Pitsea, after a couple of hours shopping to discover burglars had trashed her bedroom and stole a haul of her most prized possessions.

Alongside the box containing her husband Anthony’s ashes, which was on the dressing table, the thieves also took Mrs Isted’s entire jewellery collection and a box of sentimental keepsakes.

The stolen jewellery included her engagement ring, eternity ring and a ring which belonged to her mother.

The great-grandmother, 66, said: “They had taken a rock from my rockery and flung it through the window. The rock was left on the bed and there was glass everywhere.

“The first thing I noticed was that my husband’s ashes were gone. They were on the dressing table in the bedroom in a box that the crematorium sent him home in.

“It’s got his name on the side so either the people who did this can’t read or are stupid.

“When I saw what had happened, I couldn’t think for a while. It was horrific.

“I don’t know why they would do this? It’s like grave robbing.”

The thieves also stole £700 inside a purse, which was being saved up to buy Christmas presents and a Kindle A trail of blood was splattered on light switches and bed sheets after it is thought that they cut their hands on the broken glass.

Mrs Isted added: “They also took a box that was my husbands, which belonged to his mum, and it had memorabilia in it, like his mum and dad’s birth certificates and wedding certificates, my father-in-law’s army records and old photos.

“All this isn’t worth anything to anyone else but means so much to me.”

Fortunately Mrs Isted later found that the thieves had dropped the box containing the ashes, alongside a bloodied duvet cover, in a nearby alleyway.

She said: “I was so relieved to get them back, I didn’t care about anything else. They had opened the box but hadn’t got the bag out. It’s covered in blood.”

She added that she had been left feeling vulnerable and scared to leave home since the burglary.

Sgt Angie Torrance, based at Basildon Police Station, branded the thieves as “despicable”.

She said: “We are investigating the burglary, which happened between 1.30pm and 6pm last Monday in Beambridge Court.

“It’s despicable that they have stolen her husband’s ashes. The victim has clearly been left very distraught.”

Anyone with information can call Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.