D-DAY veteran George Davis returned from a shopping trip to discover his house had been ransacked and cash and his wife's priceless jewellery stolen.Burglars broke through a garden gate, a four-lock conservatory door and a kitchen door to enter his semi-detached home in Victoria Road, Woodbridge.

D-DAY veteran George Davis returned from a shopping trip to discover his house had been ransacked and cash and his wife's priceless jewellery stolen.

Burglars broke through a garden gate, a four-lock conservatory door and a kitchen door to enter his semi-detached home in Victoria Road, Woodbridge.

They opened all the drawers and cupboards in a bedroom, tipped out the jewellery and family heirlooms and trampled over them.

They then ran away before Mr Davis, 79, and his wife, Phyllis, returned.

The couple found a trail of devastation that has left them severely shaken.

They are also upset that it appeared the raiders had been waiting for them to leave the house and now their home feels violated.

Mrs Davis looked through the list of stolen items and said: "Churchill said, fight them on the beaches, fight them on the shores – and now we have to fight them indoors.

"What I feel is that men like my husband had to fight to stop the enemy getting into our country but we are not allowed to fight to keep them out of our houses and I would like that changed.

"I hope that whooever did this from this day onwards never has a day's luck in his life. All we want is some respect and safety in our old age and this is what we get.

"I am very angry and frightened but the more frightened you get the more vicious you get so he had better look out for himself."

Mrs Davis added: "If that burglar had been in my bedroom when I went upstairs I would have smashed him across the head with my husband's stick and I mean it. If the law can not protect us, we have to protect ourselves."

Mr Davis said: "I was frightened when my wife ran upstairs. He could have been up there waiting for her."

Mr Davis was18 when he fought as an infantryman with the Suffolk Regiment on the D-Day landings. He had worked on a farm and had only been in the Army a few months when he joined the march into France.

Mrs Davis said: "Teenagers were men in those days – not thugs. My husband was severely shellshocked when he took the full blast of the shell. They were running across the open fields with rifles firing at them and hand grenades being thrown and he turned to see his mate and his mate was blown to pieces."

Mr Davis left the Army with a permanent stammer and he has endured many nightmares reliving the horrors of D-Day. He was later a chef at St Audry's psychiatric hospital, Melton, and he has had three hip operations unconnected to his wartime efforts.

The burglary occurred on June 3 between 10am and noon. The stolen haul included £300, 40-year-old baby's booties, cigarette cards, necklaces, a brooch, bracelets, pearl choker, watch, Victorian ornaments, silver soup ladles and necklaces. A medallion more than 100 years old belonging to Mrs Davis's late father, Arthur Moye, with a picture of his ship Boudicca, was also taken.

Suffolk police said they were keen to interview a man seen loitering in the area from 10.10am.

He was white, aged 40, of stocky build, 5ft 10ins tall with very dark collar length hair. He was wearing a three-quarter length navy blue waterproof style jacket and possibly dark trousers. Det Con Dave Daly at Woodbridge CID via 01473 613500.