AN ANTIQUES collector had more than £1,000 worth of fittings stolen from his Newport garden in less than a week.

And Rex Moreton and his wife Margaret, who live in Stow Park Crescent, fear the burglars might come back for more.

A pair of antique terracotta urns worth £500 for the pair were stolen last weekend.

The 24-inch urns dated back to 1880 and had been in Mrs Moreton's family for generations.

Flowers which had been planted in the urn were ripped out and left on the lawn.

Thieves then went back into the Moreton's garden on Tuesday night and stole 36 kiln-baked lawn-edging tiles, known as Staffordshire Blues, worth £15 each.

Mr Moreton said: "We'd really like to find the people that did this, what we think of them isn't printable.

"They're clearly experts as they know what to take and what to leave, they are only stealing the antique items and ignoring the rest.

"I imagine our possessions are now out of the area being sold onto dealers but it makes you realise that they go around looking into gardens searching for this stuff in advance.

"There are still some tiles left and I half expect to wake up and find them gone too."

Elsewhere in Newport, paving slabs and edging stones, several of them antique varieties, are going missing by the dozen.

The biggest theft of stones happened in Clifton Place, where 25 edging stones and up to 20 paving slabs have disappeared.

There have been five incidents since May, including more than a dozen from St Mary's RC Church in Stow Hill.

Sergeant Martin Smith, of Newport central police, said: "We appeal to anyone who has information regarding the theft of antique stone-work."

He called for anyone who sees such stones being removed, even if it appears to be someone official taking them, to contact him on 01633 244999.