By Saul Cooke-Black

A BURGLAR left an eight year-old boy petrified when he broke into a family home armed with a "tool" before stealing a BMW worth £26,000.

Mum-of-three Sam Mills-Bodkin believes a gang targeted her home in Mill Farm Drive, Paganhill, Stroud.

The burglar struck at around 7.30pm last Tuesday, November 10, just minutes after Sam’s husband, Jonathan Bodkin, left the house to go to Tesco in Stratford Road.

Sam was alone in the house with her three sons, Marcus aged three, Connor, seven, and Anton, eight, when the burglar, carrying a "tool", and wearing a dark hooded top and gloves broke in through the front door.

Eight-year-old Anton, who goes to Cashes Green primary school, was going to the downstairs toilet when he saw the burglar.

“Anton just froze on the spot when he saw the thief,” said Sam, who works at Wotton Lawn Hospital in Gloucester.

"He was absolutely petrified.

He was the only one who saw him and said he was carrying some sort of tool.

“We were very lucky that none of us were hurt.”

After seeing Anton, the thief grabbed the car keys of both Sam’s BMW M3 convertible and her husband’s BMW.

 The burglar then quickly fled the scene in Sam’s car, crashing into the wall of the driveway and damaging the car’s rear offside.

A golf club was found on the driveway of the home which the burglar is believed to have been carrying.

“I think seeing my son spooked him,” said Sam.

“We are so incensed because we worked so hard and had to save a lot of money for the car.

“We think they had been watching the house for at least a few days.

“We have been boxing stuff up for the last couple of weeks.

“The lights were on so they could see all the stuff and they must have watched my husband leave to go to Tesco.

“It must have been planned.”

Jonathan, who works as an HGV driver in Gloucester, often works night shifts and Sam believes the thieves may have known this after watching the house.

The theft came just three days before the family moved home on Friday.

CCTV footage from Autodeals of Stroud shows a convoy of three cars, including the BMW, leaving the home after the burglary.

The car was recovered by Staffordshire Police after a high speed chase on Saturday but no arrests have been made.

Police are reminding householders to keep all windows and doors locked when their home is left unattended, and to not leave car keys on show.

Nobody was threatened or injured during the incident.

Anyone who saw a man acting suspiciously in the area, or anyone who sees the vehicle, is asked to call police on 101 quoting incident 451 of 10th November.