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Ben Stokes has pleaded for the return of a number of "irreplaceable" items after his house was burgled by a masked gang while the England captain was in Pakistan for the recently completed Test series. The incident took place on October 17 at his house in Castle Eden in the North East, with his wife, Claire, and two children, Layton and Libby, present in the house at the time. Stokes says his family did not come to "any physical harm" but stated the trauma "had an impact on their emotional and mental state". The 33-year-old was playing in the second Test in Multan when the break-in occurred and only returned home earlier this week following the conclusion of the three-match series, which England lost 2-1. Of the items taken, which includes jewellery and a designer bag, was the medal awarded to Stokes for his OBE, received in 2020 for services to cricket following a 2019 summer in which he was integral to England's ODI World Cup success, starring in the final, before putting in a miraculous performance to help them win the Headingley Test against Australia in the Ashes. "By far the worst thing about this crime is that it was carried out whilst my wife and 2 young children were in the house," said Stokes in a statement accompanying the missing items. "Thankfully, none of my family came to any physical harm. Understandably, however, the experience has had an impact on their emotional and mental state. All we can think about is how much worse this situation could have been. "I am releasing photographs of some of the stolen items - which I hope may be easily identified - in the hope that we can find the people who are responsible for this. "Although we have lost cherished possessions, to be clear, my sole motivation in sharing these photographs is not the recovery of material items. It is to catch the people who did this." Stokes has urged anyone with relevant information to come forward and contact Durham Constabulary, and gave the contact number and crime reference in his post.
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