A HUSBAND and wife returned home from a party at the weekend to find burglars had rifled through their wrapped Christmas presents and stolen their pick of them.

Now the couple, who had prided themselves on getting everything ready for Christmas in record time, are scared to leave their house in the Queen's Crescent area of Chippenham.

They say they have had to seek a vet's help to ease the trauma experienced by their partially-sighted dog who was in the house when the thieves struck.

The husband and wife, who are both 35 and do not wish to be identified, say they are past being upset and have become angry that someone had the cheek to break into their home and leave it in such a mess.

The first they knew of the burglary was when they were returning home late on Saturday and their dog, who is not normally let out at night because of his sight problems, ran up the road to greet them.

"At first we thought we must have left a door open or something, but then we saw every light in the house was on. It was lit up like a Christmas tree," said the woman.

Once inside, the couple found ripped wrapping paper strewn round the bedroom where they had stored all the gifts they had bought for family and friends.

The burglars, who got into the house through a small bathroom window, had been through a pile of wrapped Christmas presents, including a stereo system, CDs and toys, and taken their pick, leaving anything that didn't take their fancy.

The husband said: "They took stupid things like deodorant sets and toys but left other things which you'd think would be easy to flog."

"We had the new Bridget Jones CD for someone and they unwrapped it but just left it," the wife said. "It's the cheek of it really just taking anything they wanted."

The raiders also took a mobile phone, satellite television box, cash and other items from around the house, to the value of £600.

The woman said she bought a toy lorry and cars as a present for her friend's son.

"When he came to see me today I had to tell him it had been stolen," she said. "He said it was OK, but straight away he asked what it had been."

The couple called 999 straight away after finding the mess, and the police were with them in minutes.

Not only have the couple been left in a state of shock and upset, they have also had to take a vet's advice about their dog, who has started acting aggressively towards men calling at the house.

"That probably means it was men who came into the house," she said. "The police were really happy to find a footprint but there were no fingerprints because the thieves must have worn gloves.

"We have had to get advice from the vet about calming the dog down and getting him used to men coming into the house again.

The couple are now waiting to see if the stolen items will be covered by their household insurance.

"We have had the locksmith round so I do feel very safe in my house now," she said."But I don't want to leave it unattended. I know it sounds silly but something like this leaves you shaken up.

"The day after it happened we felt like it had completely ruined our Christmas, but now we're just angry and we're glad at least nobody got hurt."

Police spokesman Steve Coxhead said householders should be aware that criminals target homes for presents at this time of year.