THE owner of a family business in Sheppey is devastated following the latest incident in a long line of bad luck.

Guy Wormald, of Brambledown Aquatics and Garden Centre, at Brambledown, Minster, was dealt yet another blow at the weekend when 2,000 koi carp, with a retail value of £20,000, were stolen.

The theft happened between 5pm on Saturday and 7am on Sunday. Mr Wormald, 38, who runs the centre with his wife Jo, said: "They were professional in what they were doing. They had done their homework. Certain tanks only have goldfish in and they didn't touch those.

"The main pond is all caged up and they cut it open with bolt cutters and cut through padlocks."

Staff arriving for work on Sunday were greeted by the sight of dozens of dead fish.

Mr Wormald added: "The fish were all over the floor from where they had been scooping them out."

Some of the fish stolen were butterfly koi, which look distinctive and could be easily identified by someone with experience.

The theft comes after fire ravaged the neighbouring Brambledown Farm Shop in May 2002, which left both the shop and garden centre without power.

Tanks at the garden centre could not be heated easily and its stocks of tropical fish died.

Then, to add insult to injury, thieves stole 20 koi fish, which were valued at £2,000, from one of the ponds.

Before that theft Mr Wormald had been sleeping at the centre until electricity was restored so that he could tend a generator and gas fires that were used to heat the water for the tropical theft. Then Mr Wormald was taken to hospital suffering from stress.

Police are appealing for information on the latest theft. Officers are asking anyone with information or anyone who has been approached about buying the fish to contact CrimeStoppers on 0800 555111.