Thieves have used a battering ram to raid an elderly East Sussex couple's home twice in ten weeks.

Former magistrate and High Sheriff Peter Dunn and his wife Jane are frightened to sleep at night after burglars targeted their small country hotel, near Heathfield.

The raiders are believed to have used a police-style battering ram to enter the property before taking treasured antique furniture worth thousands of pounds.

During the first incident in September, the couple went downstairs to find their sturdy front door wide open and the metal bar supporting it barged off its fixings.

Seven 18th-Century card tables and a wine cooler were taken and the Dunns resolved to invest in home security but, before they had installed more defences, the hotel was struck again, on November 13.

This time thieves carefully removed china from chest of drawers and sneaked antique furniture out of the building.

Again their door had been forced open, leaving Mr Dunn, 83, and Mrs Dunn, 60, frightened in their own home.

The unnerving repetition of the raids has meant the couple have no option but to make a costly investment in crime prevention equipment.

Mr Dunn, who was High Sheriff of East Sussex in the early 1990s, said reports of similar burglaries in the area left he and his wife relieved they had not disturbed the raiders.

He said unsuspecting homeowners had found themselves being assaulted before the burglars made off.

Mr Dunn, who was an engineer officer in the RAF, said: "In two cases, people have come downstairs and been attacked by robbers in balaclavas.

"It's an awful thing to be frightened in your own home when you're in your 80s.

"The extra security will take a lot of money but at least we'll be able to sleep.

"We've had dogs over the years and the only reason we have not replaced the last one is the chance they might be poisoned or burglars use poison spray on it. A dog cannot defend itself against that."

Mr Dunn said his problems had highlighted flaws in the criminal justice system.

He said: "The amount of paperwork the CPS demand, police will not undertake a case unless they have everything possible to get a conviction.

"It's a real constriction on the application of justice."