An elderly woman was tied to a chair and gagged with a tea towel by two thieves who took more than £80,000 of antiques from her home.

The 82-year-old, who has not been named, was subjected to a six-hour ordeal when two men barged into her home in Bognor.

The men, both white, one middle-aged and one in his 20s, tied the frail woman by her wrists to a chair, gagged her with a tea towel and cut the telephone line before stripping the house in North Bersted of antiques.

Police have only just released details of the raid, which happened on March 3.

Officers said china, porcelain, silver, oil paintings, bronze statues and clocks were wrapped in the woman's clothes and bundled into pillow cases and black bags.

Police spokesman Chris Oswick said: "The offenders must have had a vehicle to take the items away and we appeal to anyone with information to contact the police.

"The victim is very elderly and frail and it has taken some time to piece together what has happened."

Detective Inspector Neil Fellingham said: "This was a very traumatic attack. They have taken all her belongings, all the things she has saved over the years. It was a heartless thing to do."

Among the haul were landscape paintings by A. Nieman, several carriage clocks with Wedgewood-type faces and a number of bronze statues.

Both of the raiders were white. One was in his 20s and the other was middle aged.