Metal thieves have been condemned for ripping copper piping from the outside wall of a 91-year-old woman’s home leaving gas gushing from the broken supply.

Their actions were branded “foolish and potentially extremely dangerous” by gas company Northern Gas Networks, which was called out to cap the pipe.

Mary Ryan’s grandson, Mark Borton, was yesterday desperately trying to get her central heating reconnected and the piping replaced after the theft at her home in Louis Avenue, Little Horton, Bradford.

And he accused the thieves of risking his grandmother’s life by leaving the gas to pump out for hours.

Mr Borton also fears that his grandmother will be left with a huge gas bill because of the ripped-out pipe.

“I am disgusted about it,” he said. “I can’t believe how people could do this because they would only get about £10 for that pipe and that had put somebody’s life at risk.

“The pipes had been ripped off the wall from outside in the middle of the night and gas was pouring out all that time. It is so lucky that the thieves didn’t fracture the pipe inside the house because the gas could have been pouring into the house.

“There could have been a explosion or anything. My grandmother has been left shook up by the whole thing. She is scared as well in case they come back.”

Mr Borton had to take a day off work to try to get a plumber to come and fix the heating supply.

Mrs Ryan had tried to turn on the heating on Thursday morning but it would not work, so she went out. It was only when she got home that she saw engineers and they told her what had happened after a neighbour reported the smell of gas.

A Northern Gas Networks spokesman said its engineer found a way to temporarily reconnect the gas fire and cooker and hot water supply but was unable to do anything with the radiators. “This apparent act of vandalism was not only foolish but potentially extremely dangerous,” the spokesman said. “Tampering with gas pipes and equipment poses a danger and the sad thing is the small amount of copper they removed won’t be worth much.

“The vandals’ actions were totally reckless and also fairly unusual as most people are aware of just how dangerous it is to wilfully damage a gas pipe.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed that they were investigating.

“It is believed the incident happened between midnight on Wednesday, November 9, and noon on Thursday, November 10,” said the spokesman.

“Anyone with information should contact the Little Horton Neighbourhood Policing Team on (01274) 376625.”