A WOMAN had £100 taken from her account after thieves stole her cards and used them with contactless.

Kerri Barker, her six-year-old son, her partner Mark Darnell, 29, were broken into overnight while they slept in their house in High Street, Canvey.

The experience has left them all upset.

Kerri, 26, said: “We went to bed at about 10.30pm and they must have been watching as the card was first used at 11.47pm in Southend.

“They must have seen that we all went to bed.

“We didn’t hear anything.”

The thieves used a crow bar to force open the door, and stole cards and £60 worth of vouchers.

They were so quiet that the family didn’t wake up, and they didn’t realise until the next morning when Kerri went to her job at BHS at 6.30am.

“I noticed that my cards were missing,” she said.

“I thought I had just dropped them and it was only when I checked my account I noticed money had been taken out throughout the night.”

Her mum and dad had even gone to the house to see if they could find her cards, but she quickly realised that they must have been stolen during the night.

She added: “It could have been worse as my son sometimes go downstairs to use the toilet.

“I hate to think what could have happened if her was down there at the time of the thieves breaking in.”

The couple has only lived there for less than a year.

The brazen thieves had used her cards at a number of news agents and petrol stations throughout the area.

Each transaction was only for about £30, but in total £100 was removed from her account during the thieves’ spending spree.

Her cards are contactless - meaning they can be used by tapping it against the card machine, instead of entering a PIN.

Banks set limits as to how much can be removed in a day using contactless, usually about £100.

Luckily, her bank is refunding her the money.

A fraud team at the bank is also looking into the incident.

“I only had £35 left by the time they had finished,” she said.

“That was quite lucky really, as otherwise they could have carried on doing it all day.

“They took my driving licence too which will cost money to replace, but I can’t pay for it until my new cards turn up.”

Police and a forensics team visited the house and dusted where the crow bar had been used.

The incident, which happened on June 15, has left its mark on the family and they now take their valuables upstairs at night.

Kerri said: “The thought that you can’t leave things where you want it horrible.

“We don’t leave anything out now just in case.

“We also make sure we leave a light on downstairs when we go to bed to make it look as though we are still up.

“It is a scary thing to have happened.

“It is not a nice thought having people walking round your house while you are sleeping.”