Mr Gowlett returned from church on Sunday morning to discover his home had been broken into for the second time in as many months.

Local police said they are two in a spate of similar offences occurring since September 10, most in the Ross Hill area. Three homes were broken into last weekend. 

“Everything was trashed. Every cupboard door in the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms were all open and spread out,” Mr Gowlett said. 

“They’ve tried to force the door and damaged the outside portion near the lock, and then they’ve gone and smashed the gauze thing and came through the open window, which I had open because it was hot weather and I was only gone for two hours.”

Mr Gowlett is still learning the extent of his losses, but said a gold nugget and large sapphire, recovered after the previous robbery, were stolen once again. “In the first break in, on (my wife’s) 40th wedding anniversary, I’d given her another ruby ring that matched the ruby ring that she had, and they dropped it on the floor. But that went the second time.” 

With his wife away on holiday, Mr Gowlett was reluctant to disrupt her break with bad news, but he said he did not want her to find out through social media. “She won’t be home for Christmas, and she had our Christmas presents and said ‘Now, don’t open them until Christmas time’. Well they all got opened. So at least I know what I got for Christmas!” he said.

Chief Inspector Rowan O’Brien said the number of break and enters over the past few months was “highly unusual”, and that perpetrators were mostly taking cash, jewellery and other easily disposed of items. 

“The tragedy about this is that you know the thief has very little empathy towards the personal toll of the victims and also no appreciation of the monetary value of the item, as more often than not it is simply being swapped for a small amount of drugs,” he said.

Chief Inspector O’Brien said there had been a respite from break and enters but “they’ve well and truly started up again”. He called on locals to remain vigilant of any suspicious activity such as loitering in laneways, both day and night. 

“We’re a 24-hour police station, their calls will be answered (6722 0599). The officers here all live in Inverell too, so we’re taking these break and enters very personally,” he said. 

Youth charged over October break ins, page 4