BURGLARS used a sledgehammer to batter down the front door of a remote cottage near Marlborough on Saturday afternoon.

Police said considerable force was used to get into the house at Clatford, which was protected by good quality locks on all its windows and doors.

"Even the crime scene's investigators said they had never seen such a scale of damage before," said PC Andy Sexton, of Marlborough Police.

Officers are pinning their hopes on observant passers-by to catch the burglars who stole goods worth £10,500 from the cottage.

They are not naming the victim or the property from which burglars removed a 28-inch widescreen TV, a DVD player, laptop computer and personal financial papers.

PC Sexton said the break in occurred between 1.30pm and 4.30pm. The house, which stands alone on the Clench Common side of West Woods, is not many yards from a small touring caravan site but no one there remembered seeing or hearing anything unusual.

PC Sexton said the thieves must have had a vehicle to carry away their haul. He would like to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time or using the unclassified road from Clatford crossroads to Clench Common.

In particular he wants to hear details of any vehicles seen parked along that road on Saturday. PC Sexton can be contacted at Marlborough Police Station on (01672) 512311.