BURGLARS broke into a Royal Mail delivery office before fleeing with parcels and letters – including children’s Easter presents.

Raiders targeted the East Oxford Delivery Office in Ledgers Close, Littlemore, and got away with an undisclosed amount of post.

Mum-of-two Helen Burrows, from Sandhills, found out about the break-in when she went to pick up a present for her three-year-old son, Freddie.

When she handed in her postal slip, she was told the present had been stolen and was given a crime reference number instead.

She said: “The present was a Woody character from Toy Story. Freddie has been desperate for one, so I found one on eBay.

“It was all planned for Easter. I can’t afford to buy him a proper new one. He’s going to be gutted.

“I’m hoping I can get him another one on eBay.”

Mrs Burrows, 36, had planned to pick up the toy on Saturday morning, but said she was now kicking herself that she had put it off until Monday.

She also bought her daughter Emily, six, a Jesse character toy from the same film, which has not been stolen.

She said: “I can’t give her the toy without giving him one too.

“I bet there are a lot of people who don’t realise their parcels aren’t there any more.

“You trust that your parcels will be looked after somewhere safe.

“And if people haven’t kept their proof of post, they might have problems. They must have thousands of pounds worth of stuff in there.”

Police said the burglars forced a window open to get into the building just after 1am on Sunday. An alarm alerted the police.

Thames Valley spokesman Chris Kearney said: “The incident is now being investigated. Several of the buildings have CCTV, so we will be looking at that footage.”

Anyone with information should call police on 08458 505505 or the anonymous Crimestoppers hotline on 0800 555111.

Royal Mail spokesman Richard Hall said it was too early to determine how much had been taken.

He said: “A very small amount of mail for which delivery had been attempted was stolen in the break-in.”

Anyone concerned about their deliveries should contact the Royal Mail customer services department on 08457 740740.