Ben Stokes’ house robbed in his absence, family unhurt but ‘dear items’ stolen

United Kingdom

England Test captain Ben Stokes revealed a masked gang broke into his house in Castle Eden in the North East while he was away on the recently concluded Pakistan tour. Stokes took to social media revealing what happened at his home in his absence, saying the worst was all that unfolded when his wife, Claire, and two children, Layton and Libby, were present inside the house at the time of the robbery; however, none of the family members were hurt during this event.

The incident occurred on October 17 when Stokes was playing the second Test in Multan. Stokes detailed everyone about this development upon his return to the UK earlier this week, revealing the robbery 'impacted his family’s mental and emotional state’.

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Stokes also revealed the list of items stolen from his house, including jewellery, a designer bag, a medal awarded to him for his OBE, received in 2020 for his contribution to England cricket following a blockbuster 2019 summer, where his heroics led the hosts to win their maiden ODI World Cup, beating New Zealand in the most dramatic final, among others.

The England great further shared photos of all the items stolen from his house, appealing to the police or anyone else to help him recover these. 

"By far the worst thing about this crime is that it was carried out whilst my wife and 2 young children were in the house," said Stokes in a statement accompanying the missing items.

"Thankfully, none of my family came to any physical harm. Understandably, however, the experience has had an impact on their emotional and mental state. All we can think about is how much worse this situation could have been.

"I am releasing photographs of some of the stolen items - which I hope may be easily identified - in the hope that we can find the people who are responsible for this.

"Although we have lost cherished possessions, to be clear, my sole motivation in sharing these photographs is not the recovery of material items. It is to catch the people who did this."

Stokes also urged everyone with relevant information to come forward and contact Durham Constabulary.

Stokes' gloomy return to cricket

Meanwhile, Stokes returned to competitive cricket against Pakistan following his brief spell on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury suffered while playing in The Hundred. 

After missing out on playing the first Test in Multan that England won by an innings, Stokes returned to lead the team in the remaining two matches, where England fell prey to spin, resulting in going down 1-2 in the three-match series. 

England will now travel to New Zealand for three Tests. 

(With inputs from agencies)