Gang burgled Ben Stokes' home while he was on Test duty playing in Pakistan

England captain Ben Stokes says “masked” burglars broke into his home while his wife and two children were present and stole his OBE among numerous other personal items.

Stokes was in Pakistan on England duty when his house in the Durham village of Castle Eden was broken into on the evening of October 17.

Describing the break-in on his personal X account, Stokes also posted pictures of items stolen from his home.

They included the OBE he was awarded in 2019, a Christian Dior handbag, a gold ring with England cricket insignia and bracelets.

Stokes wrote: “They escaped with jewellery, other valuables and a good deal of personal items. Many of those items have real sentimental value for me and my family. They are irreplaceable.

“This is an appeal for any help in finding these people who carried out this act.

“By far the worst thing about this crime is that it was carried out whilst my wife and two young children were in the house.

“Thankfully, none of my family came to any physical harm. Understandably, however, the experience has had an impact on their emotional and mental state.

“All we can think about is how much worse this situation could have been.”

Stokes said he was releasing photographs of some of the stolen items, which he hopes are easily identifiable, in the hope of finding the culprits.

He said: “Although we have lost cherished possessions, to be clear, my sole motivation in sharing these photographs is not the recovery of material items. It is to catch the people who did this.

“Please come forward and contact Durham Constabulary on 101 quoting crime reference CRI00575927 if you think that you have any relevant information.

“Finally, I want to say thank you to the police service. Both now and whilst I was away in Pakistan, their support for my family has been outstanding.

“They continue to work incredibly hard in trying to find these people.”