A dog breeder has been left traumatised after a thief, posing as a buyer, snatched a rare lilac-coloured bulldog, worth up to £16,000, in her home and attacked her family.

The woman, who insisted on anonymity to protect her other animals, said the shocking incident took place at her home, in Tadworth, on Friday evening, when she was with her teenage daughter and adult niece.

She said she has run a dog breeding and selling business as a hobby for a number of years and, after three years genetic research recently one of her bulldogs finally gave birth to a lilac-coloured puppy - one of a litter of four puppies which she advertised for sale online last week.

The woman said she received a phone call on Friday at about 5pm from a man who called himself James, who said he already had bulldogs and wanted to add to his brood for his two children to enjoy.

He said he was eager to see one of the puppies in particular, lilac-coloured, eight-week-old Lila, that evening and that he would be able to drive down from Birmingham within two hours to do so.

Within minutes of arriving at her address at around 8pm, the woman said the man "started acting a bit weird".

She said he sat on the edge of the sofa looking nervous.

The woman said he asked if he could hold Lila and, after she handed him the dog, chaos ensued.

She said: "As I turned to pick up the other puppies, he was holding Lila and ran to the door.

"My niece and daughter and I tried to stop him and he started kicking and punching us.

"It’s awful. I have heard of this happening - but I’ve been doing this as a hobby for 10 years and never had anything done like it."

When he arrived at the house he said his car was parked "up the road" but when he bundled Lila outside a car with all of its doors and windows open was ready and waiting for them outside.

She said the car, a dark grey Audi A3, had a white man wearing a cap in the driving seat.

The man calling himself James jumped into the car and the woman said she just managed to get her daughter out of the way before it reversed backwards and sped out of the road - clipping her daughter’s hip as it did so.

The car was found abandoned and with a flat tyre in nearby Ashurst Road, Tadworth, by police the next day.

She said "James" was black, 5"11, slim, aged about 24 to 27, clean-shaven, with a tooth missing at the front. He had an afro with loose curls.

At the time of the attack, he was wearing a black Lacoste jumper, black trousers and black Nike trainers.

The man driving the car was white, with a pointy nose and wearing a black cap.

The woman said Lila was worth between £13,000 and £16,000 - but did not specify this on her advert to sell the puppy.

She said Lila was the result of three years of research on how to create a lilac-coloured pooch.

She said she looked into which genes two parents would need to have to create a required lilac bulldog.

Following Friday’s incident, she has had CCTV cameras installed at the front of her house and moved the rest of the bulldog puppies out of the house. They are worth up to £5,000 each.

She added: "We are bruised a bit but mentally it’s affecting us.

"There’s a lot of dirty money involved in breeders of bulldogs.

"I think it’s weird if they were doing this for the money. Why not take Lila’s siblings as well?"

Detective Constable Eloise Lock, investigating officer, said: "This was a nasty incident which has left the dog breeder and her family distressed.

"The puppy is extremely distinguishable and rare because of its colour.

"We are hoping because of that the public can help us reunite it with the owner.

"Anyone who may have been offered the puppy or knows anything about where it might have been sold is urged to get in touch with us by calling 101, quoting the reference number 45140087810."