TOY shop manager Janice Pattison has spoken of her upset after thieves targeted her shop in Marlborough just seven weeks before Christmas.

Mrs Pattison arrived on Monday to open Ducklings Toy Shop in Hilliers Yard, which she runs with husband Colin, to be greeted by police and the shop’s front door hanging off with thousands of pounds worth of toys missing from inside.

Shelves had been cleared of Lego and Playmobil items and toys had been flung all over the floor.

“The police were waiting for me,” said Mrs Pattison.

“The opening manager of Waitrose found it, the door had been forced open and it was still open, the damage to the door was quite visible and she called the police.

“The bin was emptied all over the floor, toys were tipped over, it was almost as if they had just gone mad to get the things they had come for.”

It comes weeks before Christmas, the busiest and most successful time of the year for the shop and Mrs Pattison believes the thieves had planned what they wanted to take, to then sell on.

She said: “It was targeted the things they took. They came looking for particular things and they’ve taken a whole range of toys around that theme.

“I’m cross. They left a mess, they stopped children coming to play in the shop, they upset local families because they couldn’t come shopping and they’ve caused us a lot of extra hard work which we don’t need.”

It has been just over a year since jewellers Deacon & Son in the High Street was raided and prompts the debate over whether Marlborough needs CCTV.

“It’s not like stealing diamonds or anything,” Mrs Pattinson said.

“It’s more the frustration that it happened, we lost a whole morning’s business and that was the awful thing.

“If you had seen the child, who got seriously worked up because the door was open but he wasn’t allowed in the shop, he was beside himself shaking because he was so upset, so that was quite difficult.”

The thieves are thought to have made off with the toys in a getaway car which they had stolen from Swindon.

Police found it just after 9am crashed near Axford, which is believed to have had all the stolen toys inside.

Mrs Pattison said: “A customer had seen a car crash on the road between Mildenhall and Axford. It had lost control and gone off the road and tipped on its roof and it was full of Lego.

“So she put two and two together and asked if we had been broken into, and so the police went out and they looked, and the stuff we had said had gone was in the back of the car.”

Having spent the morning clearing up and getting their door repaired the couple are humbled to see how supportive Marlborough has been with many offering to help them clear up.

The shop is now back open as normal.

Police are appealing for witnesses who may have seen anything suspicious in Marlborough between 5.30pm on Sunday and 7am on Monday, or have seen anyone who looked like they had sustained an injury near Axford to call 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, where information can be left anonymously.