A housing association is investigating a mother’s allegation that builders stole designer clothes she had bought her children for Christmas.

Vicky Southward claims a package containing the clothes, worth £244, disappeared from her hallway while workers were installing a new kitchen at her home in Hawthorn Road, Feltham, in late November and early December last year.

The housing association L&Q has said it is reviewing the maintenance works, which the 38-year-old mother-of-four also claims ruined her wiring, causing all her bulbs to blow, and left her with unsightly holes in the walls and ceiling.

Builders were working at the property between November 29 and December 13, and Mrs Southward says it was only once they finished that she noticed the clothes were missing. But she insists no other strangers entered her home during that period.

“It’s been a nightmare. They left holes in my walls and ceilings, and every bulb in my property has blown since they left,” she said.

“I’d bought the Ralph Lauren clothes to give my children for Christmas and I was devastated when I found they’d gone. I didn’t have anyone else in my house during that fortnight.”

Mrs Southward, a tenant at the L&Q property, has reported the theft to police, who are investigating but said there were no active leads.

A spokeswoman for L&Q said: “Safety and security of all our residents is a primary concern for L&Q. Since the incident was reported to the police, L&Q has ensured that the property is made secure, and access locks to the property have now been changed.

“L&Q is in the process of reviewing the maintenance works that took place at the end of 2013. It is our aim to ensure that any outstanding issues are resolved, to the highest quality and to the satisfaction of the resident.”