A bike belonging to a man who is thought to be homeless has been stolen from Canterbury city centre.

A man known only as Harry visited Whirligig toy shop in Sun Street at about 4pm today, to buy some colourful finger puppets to attach to the front of his bicycle.

But just minutes later, his precious bike was swiped from where he had set up camp outside another nearby store.

Samie Wood, assistant manager at Whirligig, said: "I literally cannot believe what's just happened. Harry is a really lovely guy, just down on his luck.

"This afternoon he came into the shop and bought eight little finger puppets, two magnetic London guards men, a spin stick like you'd take to a pantomime and a magnetic toucan puzzle.

"He said he wanted to attach the little puppets to the front of his bike. He told us how he'd recently been in the Dane John Gardens and he heard a little kid asking his mum 'what's that man doing with those toys?' and the boy's mum said 'I don't know, why don't you ask him?' and when the little boy came over, Harry said 'I'm playing'.

"Then he said goodbye and he left. My colleague popped out for a cigarette and saw him standing near Cotswolds and Debenhams, speaking to the PCSO on duty.

"Literally two minutes later, he came running in and said 'please call the police, someone's just run off with my bike'.

"It had literally been stolen while Harry was along the road speaking to the police.

"What kind of person steals from a homeless person?"

Harry's bike is described as black, and with no chain.

Police officers were at the scene, taking details.

Anyone with information should call officers on 101.