An Ashford garden centre has been forced to stop selling nativity scenes after thieves stole all the baby Jesus figures.

A customer said he was disappointed when a staff member told him this morning that there were no nativity scenes for sale at Bybrook Garden Centre.

But the man, who asked not to be named, said he was gobsmacked when the woman said it was because all the Jesus figurines had been pinched over the weekend.

He said: "I went to buy a little nativity scene for my window but hadn’t been able to find one.

"So I asked the woman behind the till if they had any and she said no, because all the baby Jesus figures had been stolen so they had to stop selling them.

"She insisted it was just the baby figures that had been stolen and she even said it wasn’t the first time. We both thought it was really weird."

The man, who lives in Ashford, said the pair discussed why people would only want the Jesus figurine from the famous scene.

He added: "It is a really strange thing to do, and you get all sorts of dark thoughts about why someone would do that, maybe it’s some weird religious thing.

"Or perhaps it’s the Grinch stealing Christmas again!"

Paul Bowen, general manager at the Cemetery Lane store, confirmed the theft and said: "Like any department store we do have items stolen from us.

"A couple of nativity scenes that were left have had the Jesus figures stolen from them and we won’t be ordering anymore before Christmas."