"They are his world. I am pleading with the thieves to return them," she said.

Nicki Shepherd (9), a pupil at St Thomas's Primary School, Barrowford, was born with cerebral palsy and has already had major spinal surgery.

He gets around on walking sticks and also needs a wheelchair but is currently in hospital, near Oswestry, where he has had both legs broken and the bones in his feet reset to help him balance and walk.

Mum Kirsty said: "My son has a really lively mind. He enjoys school but cannot go out and play like other children. The thieves must have no consciences to steal from a disabled child.

"After his operation and when he is able to leave hospital, he will be wheelchair-bound for six weeks and this is when he will need his computers the most. Things like the exercises he has to do for his hands are on it and the screensaver shows him when he was younger whizzing around in his walking-frame."

Mrs Shepherd and Nicki's dad, Nicki senior, have lived in their Nelson home for nearly a year, and she described how she discovered the theft: "I knew at once something was wrong - we never leave lights on overnight, the curtains were drawn but I had left them open and there was a breeze. The thieves got in by forcing a window in the conservatory. They have also taken my laptop.

"The police said these machines are easy to sell to people who don't ask questions. Even if they are retrieved, they felt all Nicki's details will have been wiped."

Police are investigating the burglary. The two Dell laptops and the Ninentendo Wii machine are worth £1,150.