A woman has spoken of her devastation after "cruel" thieves snatched £7,000 worth of precious Japanese koi from her garden pond.

Gillian Smith, of Cabbons Crescent, Stan-ford-le-Hope, was shocked to discover thieves had climbed her back fence and made off with all 12 of her treasured koi.

Police are now appealing for witnesses to the theft of the fish, which happened some time between 10.30pm on Sunday night and 7.45am yesterday.

Mrs Smith said: "People say they are only fish, but I've had them for ten years and it's the sentimental value.

"When I moved in here, my son asked for a fish pond and we got some fish and both the fish and the pond have grown.

"The pond now stretches right across my garden. There's a lot of memories there."

The 12 fish included three of the popular ghost koi variety.

Mrs Smith's home backs onto an area of woodland and it is believed the thieves entered her garden by climbing over the back fence before they fished out the carp and fled.

She said: "It was cruel - they knew what they were doing and knew what they wanted.

"They left my goldfish and didn't take anything else from the garden."

Mrs Smith said she did not hear a sound during the night and the thieves even managed to get away without waking her pet dog.

She said: "My dog is normally alert, but she must have been so tired from the sun that she was sound asleep. I didn't hear anything and neither did my neighbours.

"The first I noticed something was wrong was when I took my cup of tea out to sit by the pond in the morning and I saw the devastation."

Police are asking anyone who knows the whereabouts of the fish, or anyone who might have witnessed anything of the crime, to contact Lynn Gisby on 01375 391212.