TWO married mountain bikers from Welland are devastated after the theft of cycles and equipment worth £15,000 from their home.

Four complete mountain bikes, a frame and a racing helmet ware stolen from the Giffard Drive home of Neil and Sophie Tyler overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, February 24 and 25.

And making it worse is that one of the cycles was a wedding present from Mr Tyler to his wife, which she rode on their honeymoon.

Mr Tyler, aged 30, said: "We were absolutely mortified when we looked in the garage and found the bikes were gone.

"They can't have been stolen by chance,this won't be local thieves stealing what they can. They must have seen us going in and out and knew what they were going to find."

The thieves' haul included a 2014-model Specialized Stump Jumper Export Evo with a black carbon frame, a Specialized Stump Jumper Evo with a black and green aluminium frame, a Nukeproof Scalp downhill bike with triple clamp forks and a black frame, and a 2010-model Lapierre Zesty 214 with a red frame, the wedding present cycle.

Also stolen was a Lapierre Zesty black and green carbon frame with rear shocks, but nothing else attached, plus a Fox rampage helmet and goggles.

Mr Tyler said: "I've been looking on social media, eBay and the specialist bike website and it's all I can do. To make it worse, they were uninsured because we only moved in here a short while, and they weren't covered in the new house insurance.

"I've been riding bikes all my life, it really is an important part of our lives, but I don't know what we'll do next. We'll just have to find a way to buy now bikes."