A BUILDER is desperate to get his livelihood back after £10,000 worth of tools were stolen from his van.

Jamie Cranfield was making a five-minute stop at Tollgate in Stanway when his van was broken into.

He had gone into Next to grab a tie for his Christmas party and said when he came out he found the door to his Citroen Relay van had been meddled with.

The light-fingered thieves had managed to break into the van and take the contents in the space of a few minutes.

Mr Cranfield said: “I nipped into Next at about 9am, and must have come out at about five past. When I got in the van it said my door was open, I knew I had closed it.

Gazette: Desperate - Jamie Cranfield with his van which was broken into. Inset shows Chloe Eaglestone’s car which was targeted on the same day

“I had a look and someone had used a crowbar on the deadlocks and took everything.

“I’ve tallied it up and there’s about £10,000 worth of tools missing. I’ve tried to get CCTV but there’s only one camera working.

“Someone must have just nipped in, it wasn’t very busy.”

Jamie has his own building company called Betts and Cranfield, and it has taken him about 20 years to acquire all the tools.

His name is engraved on most of the tools, making them easily recognisable.

He asked a few people who were in the car part at the time but nobody saw anything suspicious.

Gazette: Raided - Jamie Cranfield in his van which was broken into in Stanway. Inset shows Chloe Eaglestone’s car which was targeted by thieves on the same day

Mr Cranfield, from Layer-de-la-Haye, added: “It’s set me back as I have no tools left, I’m going to have to try to replace them.

“They must have used a fob or something as there isn’t a lot of visible damage, I’ll have to get the van fixed.

“I always double check it’s locked every time I get out.”

He said it was not something he wanted to experience just before Christmas.

He is not the only one who has been targeted. This is part of a spate of tool thefts as other residents have reported similar incidents on the same day.

Chloe Eaglestone said her car and shed were broken into in Sergeant Street, Colchester, between 10pm and 7am yesterday. About £3,000 worth of her partner’s tools were stolen - they have G Nixson on them.

Chloe said: “They smashed the whole back window of my car in and broke into the shed and stole power tools.

“We just went out there in the morning and saw it. We didn’t hear anything.”

Another van was targeted the same morning between 6am and noon, it was parked outside Marks Tey Station and all the tools were stolen.

Anyone with information about any of the thefts should contact Essex Police on 101. They have been made aware.