A disabled man has been left a prisoner in his own home after thieves made off with his wheelchair.

Jeffrey Ball, 49, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, had to cancel New Year's Eve plans after the chair was stolen from the front porch of his Hartlepool home on Monday night.

Mr Ball, of Spalding Road, Fens, Hartlepool, needs his specially-built, lightweight wheelchair to get around and is having to struggle round on crutches since the theft.

Callous thieves struck at around 6.20pm, stealing his £200 chair from the front porch while his wife Alwyn, who provides 24-hour care for her husband, was away helping her father move into a nursing home.

Mr Ball said: "I left it in the porch because I didn't think for a minute that anyone would stoop so low to steal a wheelchair.

"It just proves that anyone is fair game to these people these days. I really don't know what you could say to them even if they got caught. They obviously haven't got any feelings.

"It's incredibly bad timing too because my wife and I were planning on going out for New Year's Eve. That was ruined now.

"I can only just manage to hobble round the house with a pair of crutches."

Mr Ball, who was a lorry driver before multiple sclerosis struck in 1985, moved into their bungalow in November so he could move around easier.

He left the wheelchair in the porch for ten minutes while his wife popped out when the thieves struck.

Mr Ball added: "I usually keep the wheelchair there for easy access when I come in and out of the house.

"If the thief needs it for someone who desperately needs a wheelchair then they must be even worse than me. "But if it is just kids messing around then I think their parents should take some of the blame.

"But whoever has it should return it to me, or to the Hartlepool Wheelchair Centre."

Anyone with information on this crime can contact PC Steven Birch on (01642) 302126 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.