AN OUTRAGED York mother has slammed thieves who have stolen six top-of-the-range bikes worth a total of more than £1,200 from her garden shed.

Pauline Bartlett, of Disraeli Close, Huntington said her children Matthew, 14, and Thomas, 12, had been left very distressed after thieves stole their new mountain bikes from the family's outhouse last year.

Replacements were bought with money which had been paid out from the family's household insurance, but within a week these had been taken as well.

Now, two BMX cycles belonging to Matthew and his friend have been stolen as well.

Mrs Bartlett said: "These people who are stealing the bikes seem to have the run of the place.

"The children are very upset and so is my mother.

"I'm just absolutely sick of it. They obviously know what they are looking for.

"I think it's the same people who keep doing it.

"The police told us to get better locks for the shed door but the thieves have broken off the hinges."

Matthew's BMX was bought by his grandmother as a treat after another of his bikes was stolen from shops near his home.

"I can't afford to buy him another one," Mrs Bartlett said. "Claiming on house insurance bumps up my premiums.

"We need more police officers patrolling the streets."

Police took photographs of footprints found at the scene after the second theft but the culprits were never found.

The stolen cycles consisted of a silver Coventry Eagle mountain bike, a Y-framed luminous orange Kaos mountain bike and a green and black Red Line BMX.