BURGLARS plundered a High Wycombe business and stole laptops containing a ground-breaking software package designed to overcome speech disabilities.

Months of work could be lost and thousands of potential patients could miss out on the revolutionary communication tool if the computers are not returned.

Pioneered by the Desborough-based company, Azam, the software enables disabled people to replace text with talk, by simply editing, saving or storing voice recordings on line.

Andronicos Zervides, who developed the product with a team of volunteers at his Westbourne Street offices, told the Free Press: "All my research is on those two laptops.

"We have been developing this system for about three years. It's a piece of software that allows persons with disabilities to record a voice directly into your PC basically it lets people send a voice rather than type.

"We were in the process of helping other people, and this has put me back several months. I can't believe it.

Although the Azam product is already available, and free to disabled customers, Mr Zervides was further developing the package to help coma patients at no charge.

He added: "Azam enables customised audio recordings to be produced onto a CD by family and friends, so the patient can listen to them via headphones.

"Azam also enables voice clips to be morphed so that, for example, grandma's voice can be heard with special effects."

The laptops, which also hold confidential medical records of test patients from across the globe, were taken during a raid on Tuesday, June 7.

Contact PC Merlin Evans on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111