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A young cancer sufferer battling rare brain tumours has been left heart broken after thieves stole his prized golf clubs and those of his father from the family's garage.

It was the end of a particularly hard week for nine year old Joshua Tarrant and his family, after he had to undergo emergency neurosurgery to re-set a shunt in his brain on Monday November 29th.

He then spent the week recovering a receiving radiotherapy treatment in Addenbrooke's Hospital.

He was finally allowed home on Saturday, only to receive another blow just 12 hours later when the family woke to find his clubs were gone.

Joshua's dad Sean said, "It had been a bad week anyway and he was just devastated when he found out his clubs were gone. I know he may never use them again, but I would love to have them back.

Joshua has a very rare form of tumour and to get one is unusual, but he has three.

It is very aggressive and the one that is the real problem is in the middle of his brain, so they cannot do surgery. He spent his ninth birthday in hospital in August and has gone through two stages of chemotherapy.

He is mad about golf and I just hope there is a slim chance that we might be able to appeal to someone's conscience and get them back."

Joshua, the youngest of four brothers in a 'golf mad' family, began playing with his father, a member of Haverhill Golf Club, and immediately loved the game.

Sadly, he had just finished taking lessons so that he could play as a junior member on the course when his illness was diagnosed, and he has not been able to play since.

He goes to Parkway Middle School when he is well enough and travels daily from his home at Lowry Close, Haverhill, to hospital for radiotherapy treatment.

Mr Tarrant said property worth about £3,000 was stolen from the garage on Saturday night, including a number of tools, Joshua's clubs, worth about £150, and his own, which are worth about £1,700.

The junior clubs are Ogre and include a driver, woods, putter and set of irons in a bag.

If anyone spotted any suspicious activity in the area or any unusual vihicles they are urged to report it to Pc Greg Egan on (01284) 774100 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111