Kelly Sotherton's Commonwealth Games gold medal stolen

Kelly Sotherton (centre) won the medal in Melbourne in 2006

A Commonwealth Games gold medal belonging to the athlete Kelly Sotherton has been stolen from her home.

The former heptathlete and 400m runner said she was asleep upstairs when the burglary took place in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.

She said she only realised what had happened when she went into the lounge on Wednesday morning and realised all her bags had been tipped out.

A laptop and money were also stolen.

"I would love it [the medal] back," she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"Obviously it means a lot to me but also a lot to my family."

Sotherton posted news of the theft on Twitter.

She said the scary thing was knowing someone had been in her house when she had been there.

The athlete won heptathlon gold in 2006 in Melbourne, but retired due to injury just before the 2012 London Olympics.

The medal was the only major championship gold of her career. She won bronze at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the World Championships in Osaka in 2007.

In a post-race interview in 2006, Sotherton said she had not performed to the best of her ability but "at the end of the day it's a gold medal and you can't complain.

"I'm glad it's over and I'm glad I came out on top".