A FAMILY have been left unable to compete in their beloved motocross racing after burglars stole five motorbikes while they slept.

Kelly and Darren Skillin and their children Frank, aged 11, and Isobelle, aged 12, were left "angry and gobsmacked" by the audacious heist of bikes used for 'Enduro' long distance scrambling.

Two thieves broke into their garage and over the course of two-and-a-half hours stole five machines worth a combined £25,000 – including two old ones that were in the process of being sold to cover the cost of two new ones that were also taken.

Mrs Skillin said: "We sponsor a team of riders called Team Dangerous which involves all of us and many other riders.

"We spend most of our weekends away riding and racing these bikes and we have been doing this since the kids were five years old – they are now 11 and 12.

"As a team, we're finished unless we can get the bikes back."

The family were in beds at their Garside Hey Road, Brandlesholme, home when their CCTV caught two thieves in disguise levering up the garage door a few feet with a screwdriver at 12.45am yesterday.

The intruders clambered inside and then in virtual silence turn laid each bike flat in order to slide it out under the door.

At first they wheeled away two and returned for a further three before fleeing undisturbed at 2.30am.

The family lost 40-year-old Mr Skillin's old 2014 Honda Muscle Milk CRF250R, which was up for sale, and his 2016 Husqvarna FE 250, which they only got last week, along with Isobelle's 2014 Husqvarna TC 85.

Frank's old 2015 Husqvarna TC 85, which was up for sale, and his three-week-old new KTM 65SX, customised with an extended swing arm and Team Dangerous graphics, were also taken.

Mrs Skillin, 40, said: "We're in total shock. We're angry and gobsmacked.

"We have worked hard to afford these bikes over the last five years and have gone from second- or even third-hand really quite old bikes that were having to be fixed every week to being able to afford new bikes for the kids.

"It could have been an opportunistic burglary or they could have known we keep bikes and had come for one, and have dipped in and got five. We just don't know."