The mum of a nine-year-old boy whose pet birds were stolen from an aviary in their back garden for a second time this year says her son is devastated.

Thieves swiped the entire contents of the cage in Hugh Price Close, Murston, on Saturday, leaving the Osborne family distraught.

The birds had been bought for Dylon as a present after he underwent months of gruelling treatment for cancer, having been diagnosed with a tumour on a kidney in November 2012.

Mum Emma, 38, said: “To steal birds is ludicrous. I think they’re low-life, thieving scum.

“I hope they realise they are making my son ill, because he’s like a bag of nerves now.

“He has suffered enough.”

“I hope they realise they are making my son ill, because he’s like a bag of nerves now. He has suffered enough”- Mum Emma

Dylon, who goes to St Peter’s Catholic Primary School, finished his treatment in July 2013, and the aviary was built for him by family members, including his dad, James.

The first birds were bought in August that year and the collection has gradually increased.

But at the beginning of March, their shed was burgled and tools, bikes and golf clubs were stolen.

About three weeks later, despite there being extra security measures in place, thieves broke into the aviary and stole the birds.

“Until this year we’ve had no trouble,” said Mrs Osborne.

“When they were taken the first time it just devastated Dylon and his younger brother, Harvey,

“The pair of them wouldn’t go out in the garden.”

The birds were replaced and the family’s new feathered friends, which included about 20 Fife canaries, gloster canaries and zebra finches, were picked up at Easter.

They were protected by a shed alarm, security light, an extra gate and new padlocks, all of which were bypassed by the crooks on Saturday.

“We couldn’t work out how they got in at first,” Mrs Osborne said.

“On Sunday morning we saw a huge rock in the garden and found a hole had been cut in the aviary.”

It is believed at some point on Saturday night, before midnight, the thieves had climbed over a neighbour’s fence and got in through the roof.

The rock had possibly been thrown to test the security light, but its bulb had blown earlier in the week.

Mrs Osborne, who was at a wedding with her husband and two boys when the theft happened, said it had been a huge setback for Dylon, who only last week completed a course of counselling to help him cope with cancer treatment.

“He’s devastated,” she said. “Him and his brother are sleeping in my bedroom.”

She added: “Some of the birds are worth £50 each.

“Hopefully we can make them too hot to handle. Someone in this town knows something.”

To help police, call 101 and quote crime reference XY/016363/16