HEARTBROKEN Elaine Moodie stood surveying the devastation after her beloved business was ransacked by thieves.
But Elaine's shop doesn't sell jewellery or electronics – and the gang's main target wasn't the cash in the register.
The devastated toy shop owner, 51, lost £20,000 worth of stock in , after the burglars smashed her front door down with a car at 2.30am.
A large number of the items taken were Jellycats – collectable soft toys.
It may seem bizarre that low-life criminals are swiping the plush toys from shelves – but the world has gone mad for the unique brand, making them highly valuable.
The company, which launched in London in the 1990s, makes cuddly versions of anything from cute animals and coffee cups to a smiling piece of broccoli – with some rare editions setting you back over £1,000.
So when thieves spotted Elaine's shop in Somerset brimming with Jellycat stock, it became a prime target.
A man and a woman in their 20s, could be seen on the CCTV ransacking the Gorge Bear Company store in the picturesque village of Cheddar.
They made off with 300 prized Jellycats, ranging in price from £17-£100 and four Charlie bears, which cost £200 each.
To make matters worse, Elaine has now been told by her suppliers in that she will have to wait at least 12 months for replacement Jellycats due to high demand.
She told Flying Eze: “That’s about 80 per cent of my Jellycat stock gone overnight.”
She also said the shocking raid on her business has left her terrified of a repeat attack.
Elaine added: “My confidence is really low since the raid, and I feel paper-thin mentally and emotionally. It has made me feel afraid and on edge. I’m very emotional.
“When I came into the shop to see the damage they’d done, I felt sick.
“There was glass everywhere and a gaping hole where my front door used to be, as well as empty shelves where so many of my lovely Jellycats had been.
“At the time, I just rolled my sleeves up and tidied everything up.
“It was Mothering Sunday and I was determined to open up as normal because I knew lots of mums would be coming in with their children.
“Mothers Day is such a very special day and I didn’t want to let them down.”
Jellycat gangs
The craze for the adorable soft toys has led to across the UK, with shoplifters and scammers targeting the collectables.
Garden centres and shops up and down the country have repeatedly had stocks stolen in recent months.
Ruby Smith, 35, stole more than £1,600 worth offrom Bressingham Garden Centre near Diss,, after tricking people into thinking she was a regular mum on a shopping trip.
Just weeks later she carried out another similar raid, snatching £1,679 worth of,and a third which netted her toys worth £512 – all of which were caught on CCTV.
She was jailed for six months, suspended for two years, atMagistrates’ Court in December after she admitted targeting three Norfolk garden centres a total of seven times in three months last year – making off with Jellycats worth over £4,000.
Charlie Groves, 46, who owns Groves Nurseries in Bridport, , told in December how he saw a woman stuffing Jellycats worth £400 into a pram carrying a child when he checked his CCTV.
In a separate case, Robert Thornton, 42, was jailed for 21 months at Teeside Crown Court in August last year for a series of thefts, including a raid on an independent art shop in Darlington where he smashed a window with a sledgehammer and escaped with nine of the toys.
Collectors have been known to pay thousands for rare or “retired”; Jellycats – which come in endless varieties from cute bunnies to fried eggs and even toilet rolls, each with adorable names such as Fuddlewuddle Lamb and Bashful Bunny.
A quick search onreveals more than 25,000 of the collectables for sale, with the most expensive listed at £23,799 for a “Jellycat Small Bashful Llama” described as “rare and retired, new without tags”.
On, one seller has a collection of around 20 of the toys on offer for £10,000 – which despite its hefty price taghas still had over 2,000 views.
It’s this huge popularity and high resale value which has made Jellycat collectors easy prey for criminal gangs running scams and unscrupulous firms making counterfeit “Jellies”;.
Lell Williamson, 27, fell victim to a scam after buying what she thought was a Sky Dragon Jellycat for £50 from a website called the Luxx Collective.
“Their website is very convincing, with real photos, reviews, and it’s beautifully laid out,”; Lell, an operations supervisor from Norwich, told Flying Eze.
Lell was stunned when the soft toy arrived and she could barely tell the difference between it and an official Jellycat – with even the label and tags looking almost identical.
Another huge scam involves criminals advertising toys for sale – often using stolen or photoshopped images – asking for payment by bank transfer, then never sending the customer their items.
In one shocking case, a woman who reported such a scam to Vinted, as advised, was subject to a barrage of vile death threats by the scammer.
The horrific messages, which were posted on Facebook, read: “You b***h. I’m gonna find you and I’m gonna kill your whole family... I’ll kill your whole family in front of you....7.62 bullets will go through your forehead.”;
‘I'd like to see them jailed'
Elaine says she's had a lot of support from her local community after the burglary and hopes the sick toy thieves will be brought to justice.
She says: “Since then, everyone has been wonderful. I’ve had a lot of new and old customers coming in and telling me they wanted to buy something here just to support me. People are fantastic.
“As for the culprits who have put me through all this, I’d like to see them made to do community service in the village so they can give something back to Cheddar.
“I’d like to see them jailed too, but I think part of their punishment should be to repay this community with hard work and their time.”
The raid was captured on Elaine’s CCTV system, which she had upgraded just days before the raiders struck.
As a result, images of the thieves and the car they used to smash into the shop were “crystal sharp”;, she said.
“That meant the were able to get really good images of the culprits and their vehicle.”;
Officers told her this week that they believe they now know the identity of the thieves and are close to arresting them, she revealed.
“I can’t say any more at the moment but we’re expecting a development in the next few days,”; she added.
“Everyone wants one at the moment so are proving very difficult to replace. I spoke to my supplier in Cambodia and he told me it’s going to be at least a year before they can send me some more.
“Luckily I have lots of other soft toys to sell but it’s the Jellycats brand people want most.
“I’ve also had to replace my front door.”;
For now, it’s a thick chipboard door with four chunky bolts and padlocks.
But she has ordered a new one made from hard wood – and a steel plate in the middle for extra strength.
Elaine continued: “I’ve just got to keep going and make sure the building is secure.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking that you have to go to these extremes nowadays but at least I’ll have peace of mind.”;
A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police said: “Our investigations are progressing, and we continue to appeal for anyone with any information to contact us.
“The victims are being kept regularly updated on the progress of our enquiries.”
