Thieves snatch five chihuahuas worth £32,000 including Crufts champion Xena



Xena was named Best Puppy in Breed at Crufts 2014 last month

She was snatched with four other dogs from a house in East Yorkshire

They include Xena's grandmother Angel and mother Io



Xena is worth £20,000 while the others are worth £3,000 each



A nationwide hunt is under way for five chihuahuas including a Crufts champion worth £20,000 which

were stolen by thieves who smashed their way into the dogs' home.

Valenchino Chihuahua Xena, who was named Best Puppy in Breed at Crufts 2014, was snatched with four other dogs from a house in East Yorkshire on Thursday.

Owner Mal Hilton said he and his partner Lucy Hilton have been left devastated by the theft of Xena,

her grandmother Angel and her mother Io, as well as two others called Pandora and Evie.



Back home: Xena was named Best Puppy in Breed at last month's Crufts and is worth £20,000

Unhurt: Xena may have been targeted for breeding because her puppies would be worth thousands of pounds

They fear the thieves will realise the dogs, worth tens of thousands of pounds, are impossible to sell

and will harm them instead.

'I'm 65 years old and I haven't cried for years until now,' said Mr Hilton, a father-of-two.

'They are just like our children. We are devastated by this and we just want them back.'

He described how the raiders broke into the house in the village of Lissett, near Driffield, by

smashing a window with an iron bar.

Xena is worth £20,000 while the others are worth £3,000 each.



Expensive: Xena's mother Io is worth £3,000 and was one of five chihuahuas stolen in the raid

The grandmother of Crufts champion Xena, Angel, who was also stolen by the thieves in East Yorkshire

'I just want someone to hand them in - to the RSPCA, to a vet, to anywhere safe. It doesn't matter.

just leave them somewhere so we can get them back.

'I'm just so worried they will come to harm.'

Fourteen-month old fawn longcoat Xena, whose show name is Valenchino Made of Candy, has won at many shows but her crowning glory was being named Best Puppy in Breed at Crufts last month.



She has also qualified for Crufts 2015.

Humberside Police confirmed that intruders entered the house between 9.30am and 4.50pm on Thursday.

Mystery: Pandora, a Russian tri smooth coat, one of the chihuahuas stolen in the raid in Yorkshire

Abandoned: A white long coat chihuahua called Evie which was was snatched with four other dogs

Officers said they believe the thieves might have used a wicker basket to take the dogs away.

A spokesman said: 'The owner of the chihuahuas is desperate to find them.

