Sadly I have heard this kind of thing from friends too often. One elderly man would have his pedigree chickens pinched from the shed. I gave him a rape alarm that you can get from community police where you can attach the main bit to your shed door frame and the bit you pull out, on a string, to a hook on the door. As long as you remember to rig it up every time you leave, it's a good shed alarm. Every time someone breaks in will then trigger the alarm. It helped the elderly gentleman, who had previously just relied on a padlock.
Nothing is sacred if it can be sold to someone. I suppose it's up to society as well to refuse to buy " hot gear", and places that buy and sell second hand goods do more thorough checks on the origin of the stock they are buying. The destruction of the rest of the shed's contents was pointless and the insurance companies just rub salt into the wound sometimes. I hope your neighbours help you our rebuilding you retreat and even tracking down, what usually is, the usual suspects.
