AN amateur photographer has been left devastated after £1,000 of photography equipment was stolen from his car.

Chris Haley, of Wyke, had only been discharged from hospital less than 48 hours earlier when his car was broken into outside his home.

Mr Haley, 35, had been at Bradford Royal Infirmary with a slipped disc in his back for five days when he returned home last Friday, only for his equipment to be stolen in the early hours of Sunday.

He was the winner of June’s Telegraph & Argus Camera Club photography competition.

“I am devastated, they stole every bit of equipment in there," he said.

“They took my camera, three lenses,, my tripod, lots of filters, as well as my sat-nav and car vacuum cleaner.

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“On Monday I had loaded my equipment into my car as I had a doctors' appointment and was going to take a few shots after, but I was sent straight to hospital, that’s why it was all still in the car.”

He added that it has come as a bitter blow as he has only recently got back into the hobby after an eight-year hiatus.

“I have just got back into photography and it has taken ages for me to build up all my equipment. I had quite a good set-up and now it has all gone.

“Especially after winning the Camera Club competition in June I was starting to get my confidence back, but this has really knocked me back.

“I’m going on holiday to Portugal soon and was hoping to take some really good shots while there but now I can’t, and money is really tight at the moment as everything I had I spent on bits for my camera.”

Mr Haley, a support worker for people with disabilities, said his car insurance covers £150 of contents, but that would “only cover one lens”.

“Police said the people who stole it must have had a device to bypass the central locking, as there was no damage on the car, and you couldn’t see anything on my neighbour's CCTV so unfortunately I don’t think there is anything they can do.”

Mr Haley won the Camera Club competition with his candid photo of a squirrel peering through the window of a nature watching hutch as he waited to get a shot of a kingfisher.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “Police have received a report of a theft from a vehicle in Clare Crescent, Bradford.

“This is believed to have happened between 5pm on August 5 and 3pm on August 6.

“Anyone with information is asked to contact the Bradford South Area Neighbourhood Team on 101, quoting crime reference 13170361001.”