Baby Jesus stolen from city centre nativity scene and replaced with garden gnome

A baby Jesus has been stolen from a Birmingham city centre nativity scene - and replaced with a garden gnome. The tiny red-hatted character was left at the centre of the Chamberlain Square display – but the sculpture of the infant Christ was nowhere to be seen.



Birmingham City Council, which installed the large-scale nativity yards from the newly-opened Frankfurt Christmas Market, removed the gnome and boarded up the attraction. “Someone has tampered with the nativity scene and we are trying to find out how it happened,” a spokeswoman said.

One outraged passer-by said: “I think it’s disgraceful. We are told we need to be considerate of every faith but that’s not showing any consideration for the Christian faith.



“My son’s in a reception class at school and I’m trying to teach him the right things – and there’s Jesus Christ represented as a garden gnome. It’s offensive and everyone around me who saw it thought the same.”