By JULIA RAVENSCROFT

AN ELDERLY couple have been left devastated after burglars ransacked their home while they slept.

Eighty-year-old Muriel and 79-year-old Harry Taylor had £1000 in cash stolen from their home in Gig Lane, Woolston, which they had been saving up for a holiday later this year.

Muriel, who has lived in Woolston for the past 20 years, also lost items of jewellery in the raid, which even saw the burglar take batteries out of clocks.

Muriel discovered the burglary at around 6am when she got up and heard a noise downstairs.

Speaking from her home on Friday, she said: "I thought it might be the milkman. But when I came down all the cupboards were open and the jewellery boxes were in the kitchen. I nearly passed out."

But the biggest shock was when Muriel found £1000 taken from a pot.

She said: "I had been saving it up since last year - in fact I was going to put it in the bank on Monday.

"They even took my pension out of my purse."

The burglars are thought to have clambered through a small window

Muriel said: "You think you are safe in your own house. Now I won't sleep tonight."

The couple went on to have all the locks in their house changed which cost them a further £515.

Anyone with information should call Warrington Police on 652222.