Stoke City striker Peter Crouch is said to be "distressed" after discovering that his Cheshire mansion was broken into on Tuesday.

Thieves snuck into the home Crouch shares with wife Abbey Clancy and daughter Sophia Ruby via the kitchen window and stole expensive Rolex watches and the couple's Christmas presents.

"Abbey and Peter are naturally distressed that this has happened, particularly in the run-up to Christmas," The Mirror quotes a friend of the pair as saying.

The couple were out of the family home at the time while their nine-month-old daughter was being looked after by relatives.

This is the second time that the 30-year-old frontman has suffered a burglary. The striker's previous Cheshire home was ransacked five years ago.