An Elvis superfan was made to feel like The King by the rock ‘n’ roll community, who rallied round to replace a set of rare vinyl stolen from his home.

John Tayler’s home in Godfrey Way, Dunmow, was broken into between Tuesday, November 21 and Sunday, December 3, and the crooks made off with around £50,000 worth of valuable Elvis Presley records, many of which were imported from America.

But after seeing the police appeal for information in newspapers including The Times, do-gooders like Intense Records’ Denholm Ellis stepped in and donated dozens of items from their own collections.

Mr Tayler was left all shook up after the break-in, but said the way the community had treated him since had been amazing.

“I am overwhelmed with peoples’ generosity - I cannot thank people enough,” he said.

“They are just things these people have picked up and they won’t get anything for them.

“The money means nothing to me but these things were memories. Each record meant something different to me.”

For Mr Tayler, his obsession with The King started in 1957 when he picked up his first single at a Romford record store.

Since then he has been hooked, and rock ‘n’ roll became a lifestyle which he has invested more than 60 years in.

Chelmsford businessman Mr Ellis heard of the story through the music community in Essex.

He said: “For someone to have been collecting records for so long, I heard it and thought it was such a sad story.

“Records are a very special personal bit of memorabilia, you remember every one you bought - any of that going missing is a sad thing to have happened.

“I didn’t realise at the time I already knew John, but I still wanted to do something.

“In the shop there was a gentleman called Mick Hurley who sent in some records.

“We have a record fair on the first Saturday of the month. All of the sellers got together and donated items from their stalls.

“In the end it turned into a nice thing for everyone to come together and do.”

Mr Ellis also wrote to Elvis impersonators around the country, some of whom donated one-of-a-kin pieces of memorabilia to boost Mr Tayler’s collection.

One impersonator, Dunmow resident Dave Harley, said: “I saw it in the news and it instantly upset me.

“I do not know if there is anything more personal than someone’s record collection.

“I decided I had to do something. Although we cannot replace everything John lost we can do our best to try and put something back.

The rock ‘n’ rollers also wanted to show Mr Tayler that he still had many friends out there.

“John rocks - he is even wearing blue suede shoes right now- and we wanted to show him there are some people behind him,” Mr Harley said.

“I feel we are doing what Elvis would have wanted us to do.”

He was so low after the burglary, Mr Tayler thought about giving up his biggest passion, but he couldn’t walk away from his biggest passion.

He said: “I wasn’t going to start collecting again, I am over 70 now. But then I thought why not, we have all got to do something with our lives.”

Police are still appealing for witnesses to the incident, those with suspicious minds should contact Essex Police on 101.

Check out the donations here:

Braintree and Witham Times: