A CRUEL thief left a pregnant Newport woman heartbroken after stealing pictures of her unborn daughter.

Distraught Anne-Marie Brum, who has suffered nine miscarriages, had only just returned from hospital following problems with her tenth pregnancy when her bag containing scans of the baby was snatched from outside her home.

She had to leave her bag under a stairwell outside the house when she again felt dizzy and unwell and needed to seek medical help from a nearby surgery.

By the time someone returned to retrieve her bag it had gone. "I was just devastated. I don't care about anything else in the bag - I'm just appealing to those responsible, please return the pictures," she pleaded, close to tears.

Anne-Marie, 27, is now 23 weeks pregnant - the furthest she has ever progressed in any of her pregnancies.

She suffered her first miscarriage at about seven weeks when she was just 16. "I didn't plan that pregnancy so while I wasn't relieved I thought I would just get on with life."

Anne-Marie had no idea of the traumas that lay ahead. When she met her partner and decided to start a family when she was 21 she did not anticipate any problems.

But it was the beginning of a nightmare for the young woman as she suffered another eight miscarriages in the space of less than six years. "They all occurred at different times - from seven to 18 weeks. Quite a few of them were just past the three month mark."

Each time Anne-Marie reached that all-important milestone she hoped the pregnancy would go full term but each time her hopes were cruelly dashed.

"I would start to look forward to having the babies," she said. "When we first planned to have babies I bought baby things and it was heartbreaking to look at stuff that people had given us."

As miscarriages are not unusual, tests to discover the cause are not usually carried out until a woman has lost three babies. "They discovered there was nothing wrong, they couldn't give any reason. It was completely unexplained and that was hard to deal with."

Anne-Marie, of Chepstow Road, Newport, said she had been a regular visitor to a specialist clinic for women who suffer recurrent miscarriages. "I have been a guinea pig for many different treatments - they even implanted my partner's blood into me and that didn't work."

Sadly, the couple's relationship broke down at the beginning of this year because of the pressure of all the miscarriages.

Ironically, shortly after that Anne-Marie discovered she was expecting for a tenth time - the one pregnancy the couple had not planned.

"It was a shock for me being single and all on my own. "It was a bit more scary but I was pleased about it."

Although she has suffered problems with bleeding throughout this pregnancy, the nervous mum-to-be was hoping that this time there would be a happy ending. She gave up work as a receptionist so she could get plenty of rest.

"I know it's a girl and she's a fighter. I'm scared to buy anything for the baby in case," said Anne-Marie, adding that she had not even dared yet think of a name for her daughter.

She said her scan photos, taken at regular stages during her pregnancy, were only valuable to her.

"I was just devastated. The pictures mean everything to me. I don't care about anything else in the bag - I'm just appealing to those responsible, please return the pictures."

She had to spend another five days in the Royal Gwent Hospital following her latest collapse and contacted the Argus as soon as she was able. A Gwent Police spokeswoman said: "We are investigating the incident which happened during the afternoon of May 5.

"Some of the items in the bag are of particular sentimental value to the victim, and we are appealing for any information from the public or the return of the items," she added.

Call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or Gwent Police on 01633 838111.