A GRIEVING family today made a heartfelt plea to burglars who stole a computer containing pictures of their late daughter.

Teenager Emma Brown, who suffered a lifelong battle with a rare disease, died on Friday and her family is more desperate than ever to get the treasured photographs of her back.

Sylvia Brown, her partner Chris Bretton and their two children, Luke and Emma, had returned home from a holiday in August to find their house had been ransacked by burglars.

They were devastated and had to replace televisions, dvds, computers and games consoles.

A computer hard drive, containing hundreds of irreplaceable photographs of 15-year-old Emma, was also stolen.

Ms Brown, of The Drift, Dovercourt, said: “All we want are the photographs back, we are not concerned about the games consoles and all those material things, they are all replaceable.

“But those photographs are memories that can never be replaced.”

Emma, who was wheelchair bound since she was three, suffered from an illness which made her immune system attack her muscles.

She was presented with a Child of Achievement Award by then Prime Minister John Major in 2001 for her courage.

Emma was a pupil at St Benedict’s College, Colchester, and had her last day there in September, before her condition deteriorated and she was moved into London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Her funeral will take place at St Nicholas Church, Harwich, on November 4 at 1pm, the same day as her brother’s 18th birthday.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Ideally, the hard drive could be handed in to a local police station with a note, or a public building such as a library. If not, they can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”