A MUM has spoken of her heartbreak after thieves stole the family’s rabbit from their back garden overnight. .

The pet was snatched from its home in Pattiswick Square, Basildon, leaving the family devastated just days after Christmas.

Owner, Emily Gibbins, said her two-year-old daughter loves the rabbit, which the family have had for four years.

The 29-year-old said: “I’m absolutely devastated and disgusted. The whole thing has been heartbreaking.

“We’ve had Ace since he was a few months old, for four years now so he is part of the family. I have a two year old daughter who loves him.

“I just don’t understand how someone can steal someone’s pet from their back garden like that.

“On Wednesday we fed Ace at 8.30pm and then on Thursday morning at 5am I could hear a noise outside so I went to have a look and saw that his hutch cover was on the floor, the blankets covering his hutch and his metal pen were all over the garden path and his entire hutch was missing.

“My partner went to have a look to see if he could see anything. 

She said she put posts on all sorts of Facebook pages and lost pet sites and someone contacted them and said he saw two “young lads” in tracksuits carrying a hutch.

She added that residents had spotted rabbit droppings and sawdust in a nearby alleyway.

Police are investigating the theft and officers are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We received reports of a theft from an address in Pattiswick Square, Basildon.

“It is believed to have occurred between 8pm on Wednesday December 29 and 5.20am on Thursday December 30.

“Anyone with information should contact 101 citing reference 42/302650/21.”