A nine-year-old girl has been left heartbroken after callous thieves stole a special coin collection and money from her Minions purse.

Billy-Ann and her mum Clair Ausy, 43, were devastated when they noticed several items were missing from their home in Burdock Drive, Laindon on Thursday.

The thieves also stole several pieces of jewellery which were of sentimental value to Clair.

The mother-of-one said: “Billy-Ann was absolutely devastated when she noticed her coin collection had gone from her bookshelf.

“Ever since she was born, I have collected special £2 coins with the unique designs on. She had about 45 different ones in total.

“She said to me ‘I’ve been saving them for my whole lifetime’.

“I can’t describe the look on her face when she found out - she was broken.

“She also had some 50ps but that was a smaller collection and they left a special £5 coin probably because they can’t spend it in shops.”

Billy-Ann had also been given £20 by her grandmother for passing her blue belt Karate which the thieves had also taken.

“Her bag, which she takes to her Dad’s, lives on the stairs and they had gone through that and taken money out of her Minions purse - so they knew they were stealing from a child.”

It wasn’t until a day later Clair also noticed some of her jewellery had been taken.

“Nothing was turfed over or anything so I didn’t even notice but then I spotted a picture frame in my bedroom had been knocked over and checked my jewellery box,” she said. Most of it was sentimental like my 21st birthday key-shaped pendant.

“I also had a white gold ring and my grandfather’s fob watch which was encrusted with quartz and that has gone.

“They are absolute low lives.

“I don’t know how they can sleep at night knowing they’ve stolen money off a young child - it’s absolutely heartless.”

Police attended their home in a bid to recover forensic evidence but Clair is not hopeful they will ever get the coin collection back.

“They took fingerprints of Billy-Ann’s coin box but because it’s shiny enamel it was only a partial print so unfortunately, it looks like the criminals are going to get away with it.”

Clair is appealing for any coin collectors who may have duplicates to help her replenish Billy-Ann’s collection from scratch.

She added: “I can only pay the face value of £2 unfortunately but if anyone is kind enough to have spares, it would mean the world to me and Billy-Ann.”

If you have any information about the theft, you can contact Essex Police on 101 quoting the reference 42/64725/18.

Alternatively, you can contact independent crimefighting charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.