A TREASURED iPod containing a terminally ill young woman’s precious photos and songs was stolen as thieves raided a family home.

The black 8GB gadget belonging to cancer-stricken Sinead Lucas, 20, was pilfered along with her younger brother Levi’s blue and silver Acer laptop, which stored his vital A-level coursework.

The callous crooks broke into the WGC house during the early hours of Sunday when the family were out.

They locked two-year-old cocker spaniel Izzy in the lounge and proceeded to sneak around the Maple Grove home while also stealing mum Lisa’s unopened iPhone 4 and Levi’s XBox 360 game Call of Duty: Black Ops, which was in the console at the time.

Lisa, who was taking a night off from her care for Sinead, told the Welwyn Hatfield Times it was not so much the possessions, but what they contained.

She said: “It’s stuff you can’t really replace. It’s all the work Levi has put in for the last two years and Sinead’s photos, which had pictures like her in the limo for her 18th birthday.

“If we could just get the memory cards back that would be enough for us.

“We’ll buy her a new iPod and make it as good as we can, but it’s not the same.”

Sinead has a very rare stomach cancer that cannot be cured. She has been receiving palliative care since July when she was diagnosed.

Aged four she had a brain tumour and was in remission until she was 10.

Levi, 17, a sixth-former at Richard Hale School in Hertford who is hoping to make the 2016 Olympics as a member of Hatfield Swimming Club, said he now felt “uncomfortable” in his own home.

“You can’t help but think someone has been in your house and been through all your stuff.

“I found the door had been broken and Izzy was crying, locked in the lounge.”

The ICT, graphics and media studies student added: “It’s a nightmare.

“I’m going to have to do all my work again and I don’t know where I’m going to find the time. I train three-and-a-half hours a day and now I’ve given up my role as vice captain at the club as I need to catch up.”

Lisa added: “Someone may know something – we are willing to pay a reward.

“Whoever has our things obviously doesn’t realise the importance they have to us.

“We’re going through a bad time at the moment, but we’re just trying to remain positive.”

DC Katy Jackson: “Its very sad that the young girl has had a such a precious item stolen from her.

“I would appeal to anyone who was in the area on Saturday or Sunday and believes they saw anyone acting suspiciously to make contact with police at the earliest opportunity via the non-emergency number 0845 3300222.”

*The raid was not the first in the street of recent.

Next-door neighbour Steve Steadman had more than �2,500 worth of DIY tools stolen from his shed six weeks ago and Levi’s �600 pedal bike was also pinched.