A FUMING pensioner has hit out at the 'heartless' thieves who looted her flooded house and stole a bike used by her disabled son.

Wendy Law, 70, branded the culprits 'scum' following the break-in at the home she shares with her son Michael, 45, in Meadow Park, Irwell Vale.

The pair were staying with relatives after the Boxing Day floods had left the house without power and inhabitable. And while they were away heartless thieves smashed their way into the property, ransacked bedrooms and stole £40 cash and Michael's £1,000 mountain bike, which he had used as a recovery tool following a serious road accident.

Mrs Law, who has lived in the house for 37 years, said: "It's just sick.

"I'm very upset and very angry. People have been brilliant in helping us with the flood damage and then you get these despicable people who have targeted us when we're at our most vulnerable.

"From what I have heard we're not the only ones who have been targeted in this way. I hope the police catch these people quickly and they are dealt with in the severest possible way."

Mrs Law said the Boardman silver with black mountain bike was very sentimental to Michael, who had been left with severe mobility problems following a car accident when he was 20, and called on the thieves to bring it back.

Police said the break-in in Irwell Vale near Ramsbottom happened between Tuesday and Wednesday.

But officers said while they were away, burglars broke in though the garage window and forced their way into the kitchen through an internal door.

They made their way upstairs and ransacked the property, police said.

PC Alan Malkin from the East Division Target Team said: “To see the damage caused by flooding alone is bad enough but it is made all the more tragic by the fact that the victims’ house was ransacked by burglars while they were away.

"The mountain bike meant a great deal to the victim, after he had suffered a road traffic accident the bike has been part of his physical recovery process.

"For the past 13 years he has also taken part in a Manchester to Blackpool charity bike ride and raises around £500 for various charities every year.

“It is heart wrenching to see the impact this burglary has had on the family and I would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time to call police."

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.