An East Kennett family who had their motocross bikes pinched from under their noses in broad daylight have made a heartfelt plea to the thieves to return them.

Kye Flippance had his Honda CRS 450 and his daughter's KTM SX 65 taken from their garage.

"It's our life," said Kye who suffers with depression and anxiety. "It's the thing I do with my kids. I struggle a bit with mental health and riding the bikes really helps me."

His mum, Judith said: "We can only ask if people can give these bikes back. It is my son's life. How do you tell your granddaughter her bike as been stolen?

"We keep the bikes locked up in a garage. Either someone knew they were there or we just fell victim to a chancer."

Kye is a regular on the Wiltshire motocross circuit on tracks at Corsham, Dursley and Mid Wilts and takes his son Koby, 5, and daughter Latia, 7, with him for race days.

Lawson Benjamin runs the race days and a racing club, Thornbury MX.

"It is devastating for Kye," he said. "He really suffers with things, and we try to help him as much as we can. he is heartbroken.

"We are all keeping an eye out for him, but I'm afraid motocross bikes are always being stolen.

"There are bikes stolen every day right across the West of England.

"The tracks and people who race are not to blame here, but there are criminals and even criminal gangs who target them."

He said bike thieves often tracked social media posts to see where people live and then go and take them.

"These bikes are off road, so not taxed and therefore there are no log books. They are hard to trace.

"It is, I'm afraid, easy money for these people. I'd certainly advise people not to post photos of where they live with these bikes."

"Only recently, a container load of these type of bikes was found at Liverpool Docks about to head abroad.

"I think Kye has been very unlucky, as these thefts are usually done overnight - so it looks like he has been the victim of an opportunist."

He said the race club would be helping Kye out with a funding page he has set up to raise cash to replace his bike, which was uninsured.

Motocross racing attracts thousands of fans over the season, which has just finished.

Around 300 riders turn up for meets, and racers are aged from 6 upwards.