A widow has hit out at the "immoral" thieves who raided her garden twice in a month.

Christine Buller said she was afraid to leave her house for fear the crooks would return after her moped and crash helmet were stolen.

The 66-year-old said the £2,500 scooter was her lifeline, and called for the culprits to be caught and locked up for good.

The Malaguti Firefox moped was stolen from the side of her house in Rose Hill, Oxford, on August 11.

It was the third moped theft on the estate in just over a month.

The thieves broke down a side gate and cut through a metal lock to get to the 50cc bike, which Mrs Buller had owned for three years.

Mrs Buller believes the culprits had been watching the house until she and her daughter Karina left to go shopping.

When the pair returned to the Lenthall Road house they found the bike had vanished and the remains of the chain on the floor.

University cleaner Mrs Buller said: "I am very angry. We have been scared to go out. We are worried they are going to break in again. These people have got no morals.

"I think they should be locked up and they should throw away the key."

Mrs Buller, who lives with 35-year-old Karina, said the bike was stolen four weeks after thieves jumped over a neighbour's fence to steal an £80 crash helmet.

She added: "The bike is a lifeline to me. It has ruined my holiday because I was going to use it.

"My daughter suffers with an illness and she has to go to the John Radcliffe Hospital for check ups. We relied on it to get there."

Her daughter added: "These people are nasty pieces of work. I hate them for what they have done."

A Thames Valley Police spokesman confirmed the theft of the bike, and said no arrests had been made.

Mopeds were also stolen from Nowell Road and Dashwood Road in July, the spokesman said.