A FATHER has told how his young daughter is “terrified” to return home after their house was ransacked by burglars in a £40,000 raid.

Mick Thomson said his 12-year-old daughter, Emily, had woken suddenly at 5am on Friday feeling cold and noticed her iPad missing near her bed.

She then discovered all the doors to their Acaster Malbis home had been left wide open and the house in “complete disarray”, he said.

She woke her father in the cold realisation that the family home had been targeted by burglars.

As well as the iPad, Mr Thomson, who owns Ruby Arts tattoo parlour, said top-of-range electrical and computer equipment including a TV, were stolen as well as £10,000-worth of specialist tattoo equipment.

About £3,000 in cash – savings for Christmas – was also stolen.

The burglars then stole a Toyota Yaris belonging to Mr Thomson’s partner, Stacy Simpson, to make their getaway.

The vehicle, which Mr Thomson had bought his girlfriend as a present only three months earlier, was later found torched and abandoned near Leeds.

The total cost of the burglary, which is now being investigated by police, totals about £40,000, Mr Thomson said.

But the worst thing, he said, was his daughter had been too scared to return home in the knowledge that burglars had not only been inside the family home – but also in her bedroom to remove the iPad.

“She is absolutely terrified,” Mr Thomson said, adding Emily has since been staying with a family relative. “To know burglars have been inside your house while you have been sleeping is scary.

“The house was completely ransacked. It was shocking to see it in such a state.”

Mr Thomson said while some of the stolen goods were covered by insurance items like his tattoo equipment were not as they are only covered if they were stolen from his business premises.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the burglary. It is thought to have happened sometime between 11pm on Thursday and 5am on Friday.

Anyone with any information should phone York police on 101. Alternatively contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.