A woman who moved to Bradford to be near her dying mother has had her property ransacked by burglars.

Elizabeth Key gave up her job in Gateshead to set up temporary home in Great Horton two months ago.

Her 54-year-old mother Margaret Greenwood - who overcame the grief of losing her father to complete a degree course at the age of 45 - is suffering from a brain tumour and has only weeks to live.

She was diagnosed at the beginning of the year and is being cared for at Manorlands in Oxenhope, near Keighley.

When Elizabeth, 25, returned home from a visit to the centre on Thursday she discovered the rented property had been cleaned out by burglars.

The intruders took a purse - containing pictures of her mother, partner and godchildren - hundreds of pounds of electrical equipment and even raided the fridge.

She said: "I can't cope with it all at the moment. My mother's health is deteriorating every day and I just wanted to be near her.

"So I packed up my stuff and moved to Bradford. It's been a strain financially and I've had so much on my plate I didn't even insure my property."

Sergeant Adrian Denby, of Odsal Police, said burglary was a despicable crime because of the heartache it caused.

The intruders struck at the house in Windermere Road, Great Horton, Bradford, between 7.30pm and 11.20pm on Thursday.

Police want to speak to the occupant of an F-registered red Ford Sierra parked outside the house, who may be a witness.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on Bradford 376659 or 0845 6060606.

Elizabeth added that the family had also been shaken when her step-father, Ian, 43, was involved in a motorbike accident in Oxenhope while returning from a visit to Manorlands. He escaped injury but was left shocked.

Margaret Greenwood hit the headlines herself in the early 1990s when the Telegraph & Argus reported on her graduation from Bradford and Ilkley Community College.

She had considered quitting when her father died but her friends and tutors rallied round and convinced her to carry on.

Further pressure came when her soldier son Michael was sent to fight in the Gulf War, but Margaret graduated in 1992.