An elderly couple have been left baffled after thieves dug up more than 70 shrubs from their front garden.

Grandparents Brian and Marilyn Cronk planted about 80 leafy laurels around the perimeter of their front garden in Bridge, near Canterbury, at the end of last year

But they have been left with nothing but a strip of bare earth following bizarre thefts which took place across two nights.

Mrs Cronk, 70, said: "We're in a bungalow on a corner and we've got a lot of frontage, but it was all open. So we put up ranch fencing to surround the front garden, and we had 2ft high laurels planted in front, to grow up and give us some shielding from the road.

"They cost about £5 each. They were growing quite nicely - we'd nurtured them and watered them as we were told.

"Then we woke up one morning at the beginning of February and my husband looked out, and the ones at the front were all gone.

"He said 'where are the laurels?' Then he said something I shouldn't repeat, as he realised somebody had taken them."

Video footage shows the scale of the theft

Seeing that thieves had pulled up about 65 of the plants, the couple reported the crime to police.

"We think they probably just leant over and pulled them up," said Mrs Cronk. "It had been raining, so I think the ground was quite soft and they'd only been in a couple of months.

"I did google it and it looks like hedge theft is one of those odd things that's rife in certain areas at certain times. I guess someone comes along and just thinks 'that's nice'. Then they probably sell them on. I wonder if things like that are stolen to order."

About 20 of the young bushes were left behind, planted along the side of the couple's Bridge Hill home.

"They were shielded by others shrubs," said Mrs Cronk. "So we just left them, thinking it was probably too much trouble for anybody to fight through the shrubbery."

But last week, the couple's daughter saw they too had been stolen.

"We hadn't looked outside, but she popped by to drop something off and said 'have you seen this?'

"They must have been taken the night of April 16.

"They have left odd ones dotted about that were perhaps more inaccessible, which we've dug up and we'll stick somewhere else just in case.

"It's not nice, but I think it's worst because it's happened during lockdown. People have other things to worry about."

Mr Cronk, 72, says they are now planning to install security to help prevent a similar incident.

"We might have to block them in more or get some security," he said. "Apparently you can get alarms for plants that you wind around them.

"Everybody in the village has been very supportive since it happened. We have had offers of help, which is very nice."

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact police on 01843 222289 quoting 46/23641/20.

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