Heartless thieves stole jewellery of great sentimental value from a family’s home while they were in Isles of Scilly taking part in the World Pilot Gig Championships.

While Lizzie Anderson, 26, was coxing two Falmouth gig crews to victory on a wet and windy weekend, burglars broke into her family’s home on Trescobeas Road and took the last of her grandmother’s jewellery that had been left after a previous break in five years ago.

Now Lizzie, who on Sunday steered her brother Adam to victory in the Falmouth A team and her father Alan in the super-vets, doesn’t feel safe in her own home after the family got back on Monday to find the contents of the house strewn all about.

Mother Barbara said: “We came back at 10pm last night and the house was turned upside down. They smashed the window in the study and just gone through everything.

“They didn’t actually take that much because we were burgled five years ago and most of our stuff went then.

“They’re welcome to the TV, that’s insured, but it’s the other stuff.

“It’s horrible, it makes you so angry. Why do they think they can just come into your house and take whatever they want?”

The family said they don’t know whether the burglars planned the break-in, knowing they would be elsewhere. It was the first time the whole family had been away at the same time since they moved in about 11 months ago.

Lizzie, who is currently unable to work due to a series of hip-operations, said: “I have been a wreck since the first break in.

“If I’m left alone in the house I can’t deal with it. If [my parents] leave for work early they have to leave lights on around the house so people know somebody’s in. It makes you paranoid.”

Her mother added: “She was a bit of a wreck last night. It’s not safe when you don’t feel safe in your own home.”

“Your home is your little retreat, you shut out the world and feel safe.”

The burglars broke in through a window, but let themselves out through a front patio door, locking it and taking the key with them.

The family said they didn’t take much: the jewellery, tablets, a bottle of perfume and a half bottle of Hugo Boss, “only things they could stuff into their pockets.”

But it has had a big emotional impact, especially following so closely on the heels of victory.

“The gig championship was the highlight of her year,” Barbara said, “being able to actually do something, after all the pain and the operations, being able to get in the boat and achieve that was wonderful.”

She said the family will now look into getting more security for the house: “They’ve taken everything now, and we’ve got nothing left.”

Anyone with any information regarding the break in should call Falmouth Police Station on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Pic: Lizzie and mother Barbara outside the door the burglars locked as they left the house