Theft of £30,000 mobile home from Devon yard left pensioner 'in total nightmare'

• Watch Sam Blackledge's report

The owner of a £30,000 mobile home that was stolen from a haulage yard in Devon says she has been through a 'dreadful nightmare'.

Sonia McColl's home was taken while being transported to Barnstaple in 2017.

Two men have been convicted of the theft and are due to be sentenced tomorrow, 2 July.

On the day of the move, the house was taken to a haulage yard near Cullompton. But the next morning, it was gone.

"They took it away, they dropped it somewhere, they took the money from someone, and someone is living it - or they burned it," Sonia said.

"All this time, I was supposed to believe this was just a chance thing. It wasn't."

Last month Stewart Gregory and Darren Baseley were convicted of theft.

Gregory had been sub-contracted to arrange the move, and his trailer was caught on CCTV removing the home from the yard.

It was tracked moving across the country but was never found.

When she realised what had happened, Sonia said she was 'horrified'.

"It was a total nightmare; I was consumed by it," she said. "I couldn't believe it was happening."

The home was not insured when it was stolen, as the insurance only covered it when it was being transported.

Sonia believes the crime was revenge for her work as a vocal campaigner for the rights of mobile homeowners, for which she was made an OBE in 2014.

She was left homeless and even had to change her name and move to a secret location as she feared further attacks.

"It has changed my life completely," she said.

"I can't live where I wanted to live, I can't live near my family, and I don't have the lovely home I wanted.

"When they take your home and everything around it, your whole security collapses, and you have absolutely nothing. That's what they did to me."

Gregory and Baseley are due to be sentenced at Exeter Crown Court tomorrow, 2 July.