Ben Stokes’ home raided by ‘masked males’ whereas spouse and two children have been in the home

Ben Stokes has shared his house was burgled on social media.

The England cricket star has appealed for any witnesses to come forward after “masked men” took off with “irreplaceable valuables”. The raid occurred during England’s second test with Pakistan, with Stokes with the England team in Multan.

Posting on social media, as well as sharing images of some of the items that were stolen, he said: “On the evening of Thursday 17th October a number of masked people burgled my home in the Castle Eden area in the North East.

“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 2 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.

“I am releasing photographs of some of the stolen items – which I hope may be easily identified – in the hope that we can find the people who are responsible for this.

“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.”

The images shared by Stokes include his OBE that he was awarded for services to cricket after his starring role in England’s 2019 World Cup win and improbable victory over Australia in an Ashes Test match at Headingley.