A TERMINALLY ill woman has been left in shock after a burglar struck while she was in a hospice, stealing thousands of pounds worth of items – including her mother’s engagement ring.

The burglar entered the house in Tetbury through the back door dog flap before stealing the gold diamond-encrusted engagement ring, a platinum Longines watch, a Dyson cylinder vacuum cleaner and a Ferguson flatscreen TV.

They also stole her car, a red Mitsubishi Colt, after taking the keys from the property in Sherwood Road.

The victim, a 65-year-old woman with terminal lung cancer, was being treated in a hospice when the break-in took place sometime between noon on Saturday and 6pm Wednesday.

Her friend Phil Hall said she has been left shaken by the break-in and may be too upset to return home.

“She was having respite care and we are not sure whether she will want to go back home now,” he said.

“She did a lot of travelling and was never worried about leaving the house, but this has really knocked her.”

He added: “When we told her what had happened she was shocked and upset, but she is a very private person and does not really show a lot.

“She said ‘in the grand scheme of things, it’s a small’ deal.”

However, Mr Hall said the engagement ring stolen was of “great sentimental value” to his friend.

Mr Hall said that, after entering the house through the dog flap, the burglar unlocked the back door and removed the TV and other items, before then locking the door again and leaving through the dog flap.

On December 2 1991, the woman met Nelson Mandela on a Concord flight to New York where he was attending a United Nations meeting, shortly after being released from prison. Mr Mandela signed a flight menu for her which she kept as a treasured item, and she was initially worried that the burglars had stolen it from her home.

However, fortunately the autographed menu was safe with Mr Hall and his wife.

Following the burglary, Gloucestershire police’s Tetbury beat manager PC Leah Davis said: “This was a particularly callous burglary from the house of an elderly victim who was absent from the house at that particular time receiving treatment for a serious illness. “It is important we catch the offenders as soon as possible. I would urge anyone who saw anything or anyone suspicious over that period to contact us as soon as possible”

Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact Gloucestershire oolice on 101, quoting incident number 330 of January 21 and crime number 1522/15.