A small businessman faces ruin after an organised gang of thieves stole up to £20,000 of equipment from his isolated factory.

Father-of-two Terry Bates surveyed the wreckage of his workshop on a farmyard estate in Matching Green and told This Is Essex: "It's a huge blow.

"I only started the business last summer. Now we're at the mercy of the insurance company and I'm just trying to take stock and decide what to do next.

"We've got commitments and we're trying to make alternative arrangements but until I talk with the loss adjusters I don't know what the future will hold."

The daylight raiders stripped his small factory, which produces sealed, double glazing units, and loaded the valuable equipment onto a lorry.

Glass was smashed and left strewn around the workshop which was unoccupied at the time because Mr Bates was working on accounts at his Stansted home.

Among items stolen were a glass washing machine, a cutting bench, a hot melt machine, some inspection benches and 200 8ft by 4ft sheets of clear and obscure glass.

Mr Bates, 40, said: "Some of the equipment was up to 16ft long and had to be unbolted first. But they weren't just content with that: they even took a vacuum cleaner and a couple of screwdrivers.

"Passers-by saw a white box lorry backed up to the factory but they just thought that we were moving things and didn't raise the alarm. You can't blame them - it's easy with hindsight."

The raid follows a smaller break-in two weeks earlier when the only item stolen was an £80 saw.

Mr Bates said: "It seemed so insignificant that I didn't even report it but I now believe that they were just seeing what was worth taking when they had the means of taking it away."

Pc Chris Caten, Essex Police Farmwatch co-ordinator in the area, appealed for information about the raid which took place between March 1 and March 4.

He said: "The amount of equipment taken would have required two trips and was probably stolen to order. Someone must have seen something.

Anyone who notices a new business like this suddenly starting up should also contact us."

Information to Pc Caten on 01277 363013 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111

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