Blooming Awful!

A green-finger thief has been systematically stolen a picturesque village’s war memorial garden.

19:31 23 July 2015

The tiny community of Egglescliffe was outrage after a green-finger thief systematically stolen flowers from a war memorial garden. Residents are convinced that the culprit is an expert gardener and not just a vandal.

 

For five consecutive days, the thief arrived in the early hours armed with trowel and baskets. On the first night, dark red and purple geraniums and fuschias were stolen, then red dahlias and begonias, continuing through the colour spectrum to lighter reds and pinks following two nights ending with pale heliotropes and ageratums on the last raid.

 

Mr Crouch, 71, who planted the beds with colourful display said: “The whole village is hopping mad, we’re aghast that someone would be so brazen. I suppose you’d call it audacious but it’s an insult to the men whose names are on that war memorial.

 

“The thefts began on the same weekend as a parade held locally to commemorate those who fell in the First World War; it’s sickening.

 

“The flowers are worth £70 but we don’t believe they were stolen to sell, this is someone who has been looking to create an immediate effect.

 

“They were in full bloom and were selected very carefully by a thief who knows what colours and varieties work together side by side.

 

“It’s someone who has local knowledge and the thought that it could be someone from within our wider community is really awful, it’s hard to imagine who would do such a thing.

 

“A trowel seems to have been used and they’ve taken enough flowers on each occasion to fill a couple of baskets.”