IT was looking like a routine shoplifting inquiry when police went to a Littlemore home to arrest a couple of suspects.

But they had no idea what they were about to find behind the front door.

The picture below shows just a fraction of the haul of suspected stolen property worth up to £25,000 that was recovered from the house in Cardinal Close.

Police recovered clothing, jewellery and accessories, which are thought to have been stolen from shops in Oxford, Bicester Village and Swindon.

Oxford police were alerted to the suspects by colleagues in Swindon and swooped to arrest a married couple, initially in connection with a suspected shoplifting incident at Swindon Designer Outlet.

But they weren’t expecting to find the massive haul when they arrived with a search warrant at the Littlemore address.

Rose Hill neighbourhood officer Pc Ashley Gardner said: “This is about one tenth of the stuff.”

Suitcases, bags and boxes of items took four police officers 14 hours to label and remove from the house.

Unlike most shoplifting arrests which are made in or near to the shop in question, police officers are now having to work backwards, tracing the items to the shops they may have been stolen from. The team is painstakingly valuing the goods by adding up price tags and contacting every shop in a bid to confirm whether individual items are stolen.

So far the total is £14,800, but with more coats, dresses and handbags to check, the team thinks the final figure could be between £20,000 and £25,000.

Inside three suitcases, four big holdall bags and countless carrier bags were dresses, tights, coats and T-shirts from well-known high street stores, not designer brands.

Likewise bags of costume jewellery were recovered by the police team, but none of it is thought to be of significant value.

“The problem is there’s so much,” Pc Gardner said.

“I’ve done five years’ service with the force and this is the biggest haul I’ve ever recovered from a job. We’re now investigating the possibility that some of it has come from Oxford.

“Some stuff we believe has come from Bicester Village and it is very likely that some will have come from Oxford.”

A 45-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods and shoplifting and have been bailed until March 26, pending police enquiries after the raid on December 5.