A community has rallied to restore Christmas spirit after heartless thieves stole children’s presents.

Rochford Parish Council was putting the finishing touches to the plans for the annual Christmas party for the district’s younger children, which will take place tonight.

Each year, the event is supported by the rotary club who kindly make a donation so the parish council can buy the children a small gift which is hand-delivered to them by Santa.

On Saturday night, the home where the gifts were being kept was raided by thieves who took every single gift.

Parish councillor Jo McPherson said: “We are hugely saddened by what’s happened. We believe the person was targeted.”

Councillor Arthur Williams, chairman of the parish council, said: “It has been absolutely awful.

“I don’t know if the thieves knew where the presents were or if it was just bad luck. I think we were just very unlucky.

“But the party will go on. The community has been amazing.

“I am so proud to be a part of this community

“We feel totally humbled. We had a tremendous response from the public and Stanbridge Parish Council also donated.”

Mrs McPherson took to Facebook to appeal to the Rochford community for help and the result was overwhelming.

She said: “This is now to ask if you kind generous people of Rochford can donate a gift.

“We are desperately looking for gifts for children aged between three and 11.”

The parish council set up a Just Giving page to help them collect donations and set a target of £250.

Within 24 hours, they had smashed their target and raised more than £900 to go towards replacing the stolen gifts.

More than 60 people had donated to the fund. Leanne Meadows was one of those who contributed. She said: “The good will always outweigh the bad and Rochford has shown how truly beautiful it is through all this support.

“Merry Christmas everyone from our family to yours.”

The family whose home was burgled have been left shaken by the crime but have said that the support shown by the community has made them feel better.

If you know anything about the incident, you can report information to Essex Police on 101.

Alternatively, you can also share information anonymously by contacting independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers.