A couple who retired to Bulgaria said they will be forced to sell their dream home just to buy food.

John, 65, and Sandra Gundry, 48, say they have been left penniless after continually being targeted by thieves and being fraudulently sold a derelict property.

The pair claim even their dog was poisoned in an ongoing “hate campaign” that has left them without enough money to ring the British Embassy in the country’s capital Sofia for help.

John said: “We came here with two van loads and now I don’t think we have enough stuff to fill a suitcase.”

“I’d hate to think how much we have lost.”

The couple lived in Eastbourne for 25 years before moving to Bulgaria in 2008 for a more relaxing life after Sandra was given days to live unless she had an operation to remove an embolism on her brain.

They paid £9,000 for a café but when they arrived in Bulgaria on Christmas 2008 the site was a ruin.

The couple sold the café within six months for half what they had paid for it and hoped to make a fresh start when they bought a three bedroom bungalow in another village called Butovo.

Almost immediately the couple fell foul of thieves who took their TV, computer, catering equipment, money, Christmas decorations and even Sandra’s engagement ring.

They claim their beloved German Shepherd was also killed after someone fed it poisoned meat.

John said: “I get the feeling the locals think because we come from the West, we are wealthy and so we have become a target all the time.

“It feels almost like spite, that they envy us.

“We don’t think we trod on anybody’s toes here, we tried to learn a bit of Bulgarian but it just feels like there’s a hate campaign against us.”