THE moment a gang of thieves struck under the cover of the darkness was captured on camera.

The footage shows how the brazen group targeted the home of Linda Mcsorley and her husband on St Mawgan Court in Padgate in the early hours of Sunday.

The couple made the discovery at around 4am and immediately checked their CCTV to try to identify the culprits.

Linda, 45, said: “My husband was about to take the dogs for a walk before going to work.

“We have lived in this house for 20 years and we have never had any trouble.

“He came and woke me up and you could see in his face that he was in was shock. I ran downstairs with him.

“We had a look at the cameras to see if we could see anything and we could see which direction they had headed in.”

Her husband immediately went outside to follow the route the thieves had taken.

READ > Retro video game arcade set to open in town centre 

His quick-thinking paid off as around 200 yards from the house, he discovered the bike down an alley way.

The bike had significant damage, which had been caused by several failed attempts to start the engine of the Suzuki 3650, which he bought two years ago.

The motorbike has since been written off and the couple are now waiting to hear back from their insurance company.

Linda added: “I was mortified as we have lived in this house for a long time and we have never had any problems. 

“I ended up sleeping on the sofa because I didn’t feel safe.

“I was terrified.”

Police forensic experts have already taken prints from the bike in the hope of catching those involved.

Linda has released the CCTV footage as investigations continue. 

She believes the gang had already scouted out the area ahead of Sunday. 

Anyone with information has been urged to call Cheshire Police on 101 quoting incident number IML 287710 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.