TREASURED garden gnomes have been taken from their home and smashed in a nearby alleyway.
Bernard and Cath Bond were upset when they woke up to discover that a dozen of their gnomes and ornaments had been stolen from their front garden in Unwin Road, The Reddings.
And the retired couple were shocked and upset when a neighbour came to tell them that the gnomes and ornaments had been found in pieces in a nearby alleyway.
Among the broken characters was a gnome which had belonged to Bernard's late brother Trevor, who died in 2007. Only its head was still intact, left lying among the shattered pieces.
"It looks like someone has taken them from the front garden and gone to between some garages near the brook and smashed the lot," 67-year-old Bernard said.
"It's like a battlefield out there. We have had nothing like this in the 35 years since we moved here."
"My wife went out there to see the destroyed gnomes and when she came back she said 'You won't believe it', and she was right.
"I haven't seen anything like it before. It was terrible."
Grandfather Bernard, a retired bus driver, said other neighbours had had garden ornaments stolen in the past couple of days, and he believes there could be someone with a grudge against gnomes targeting them in the area.
"How people can do something like this, I don't know. It's absolutely disgusting," he said. "The oldest gnome was about 15 years old. We collected them over the years and put them in the garden to brighten up the place."
Bernard said he and his wife Cath, 64, only had six gnomes left.
They reported the theft and destruction to the police, who are investigating.
Officers believe the attacker struck between 6.30pm on Thursday and 8.30am on Friday.
A police spokesman said: "The offender has stolen the ceramic garden ornaments and then smashed them in an alleyway leading from Unwin Road to the brook. One of them was found dumped in the brook without its head.
"A collection like this often means an awful lot to the owner, so the fact that they been taken and then destroyed so casually must be upsetting."
Anyone with information on the crime is urged to call police on 101.
OPINION, P8
