AN 80-year-old Army veteran is "heartbroken" after thieves targeted his home and stole the £6,000 he was saving for his funeral.

Great-grandfather Jimmy Smith, who is in constant pain and in poor health, visited his allotment on Friday for an hour and a half but when he returned to his Hartlepool home he found a door had been forced and thousands of pounds in cash stolen.

He had been saving the money for his own funeral so that his family did not have to worry about paying for it.

His daughter, Karen Howarth, who is his main carer, said: "He phoned me up and said, hurry up, get down here, they have taken everything.

"He is heartbroken. He keeps saying he has worked hard all his life and saved his money and he can't believe someone has done this.

"He is the nicest person. He would help a stranger.

"All he thinks about are his family and he lives very frugally - he could be more comfortable - because he wants us to be ok.

"We keep telling him to spend the money on himself but he had been saving it to pay for his own funeral so that we didn't have to worry about anything."

She said Mr Smith had been in poor health, with degenerative disease spondylosis all the way down his spine, arthritis, lung condition chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.

Despite this he kept his allotment going with his family's help, even though he can hardly bend at all.

"It gives him a purpose," said Mrs Howarth.

"He is absolutely heartbroken at the moment. Not just about the money, but the fact that someone has been in his house."

Mr Smith was in the Army in the 1950s and served in the Far East, before working in construction and civil engineering.

His Baker Close address was broken into between 12.50pm and 2.20pm on Friday (February 20). Members of the public who might have seen anyone suspicious in the area around the time of the burglary are asked to contact police.

Any witnesses or anyone with information regarding the incident, or who is responsible, is asked to contact DC Jason Mactaggart from Hartlepool Volume Crime Team on the non-emergency number 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.