BURGLARS sneaked in to a family’s house and ransacked it as they slept.

Thieves jemmied the front door of the house, in Falstones, Basildon, and snatched electrical equipment and two vehicles off the drive.

Homeowner Maxine Newell said she saw youths taking selfies outside her house hours before the break-in and believes they could have been scoping out her property.

Detectives are appealing for anyone with information about the break-in to contact them at Basildon CID.

Mrs Newell, 48, said: “It’s devastating.

We worked really hard to buy those things and someone just came in and took them. It’s frightened the life out of my little boy. He is only nine.

“We were asleep in bed at the time. You just think what if they had come upstairs and attacked us or if they had snatched my little boy from his bed.”

Mrs Newell saw two scruffy boys taking selfies outside her house at about 6pm.

She said: “It just struck me as strange. They were looking in cars and were out there for a while.”

At about 10.45pm, MrsNewell’s husband heard a noise in the porch, but when he went out to investigate nobody was there.

The family went to bed at about midnight. When Mrs Newell went downstairs at about 6.45am on Friday she found all the cupboards and doors open.

The thieves had taken three silver iPads, one in a green case, one in a blue case and one in a black leather case.

They had also stolen an iPhone 4 and 5, a Nokia Lumia, a white Fiat 500 on a 61 plate and a white Ford Focus estate.

The crooks also took a CCTV camera and a security light from the garden.

Mrs Newell added: “When I went downstairs it was just really eery.” The thieves got in to the house by forcing the uPVC front door.

Mrs Newell said: “I did not realise that to lock the door at night you have to pull up the handle and turn the key.

“I want to warn people that this is going on and to make sure their house is locked up at night.

I would not want anyone else to got through this.”

Anyone who believes they have been offered any of Mrs Newell’s property, or anyone with information about who burgled the house, should call Basildon CID on 101.

Alternatively, you can leave information anonymously with Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.