Man dismayed after his front garden is stolen

Police are hunting green-fingered thieves - who stole an Ipswich man’s front garden. The father-of-two had laid the 100sq ft artificial lawn to spruce up the look of his Bramford Lane home. But now he has been left to foot the £250 bill of replacing the artificial lawn after it was pinched during a night-time raid. “I’m absolutely seething over it, I really am,” said Mr Woolnough, 54.



“How dare someone have the cheek to steal what I have had to work hard for. You try and make your house look nice and someone comes along and steals what you have got.” The bizarre theft took place between 10.30pm on March 19 and 6am the following day. A police forensic team scoured the garden after footprints were left behind by the thieves.

Mr Woolnough, 54, said: “I have had it in my garden for the past six years. During the small hours someone decided their need for it was greater than mine.” One attempt had been made to take the fake turf before but the perpetrators gave up because of the weight of the material. Mr Woolnough is convinced that this time the offenders had properly planned the crime.



“Whoever did it knew what they were doing because they knew the weight of it,” he added. “I have not had my garden stolen before – it’s quite strange.” A Suffolk police spokeswoman said: “This is a very unusual incident, and it would have taken some time to remove such a large quantity of artificial turf from this garden and needed a vehicle to take it away. Officers want to speak to anyone who may have seen any suspicious persons or vehicles in this area overnight Monday and Tuesday last week.”