A mum-of-three has spoken of her anger after thieves stole an Easter tree, made by her children, from their front garden.

Tracey Brunger and her children made the tree last week and put it on display in their garden in Thomas Road, Sittingbourne to brighten up the street for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown.

But she and her children - especially eight-year-old Finley, who put a lot of effort into making the tree - were left upset when they found it had disappeared on Easter morning.

"We just decided to do it because everyone was decorating their windows," said Tracey. "We were in the garden and decided to make an Easter tree.

"We put quite a bit of effort into it - especially my son Finley. He enjoyed putting it together last Monday, and we had it out the front for everyone to enjoy.

"A lot of people were walking past and smiling when they were out on their daily walk. It made people happy."

But when she went out on Easter Sunday, Tracey discovered their decoration had disappeared.

"I went out yesterday morning and my neighbour shouted across asking if we'd put the tree out the back," she said. "I looked over and it wasn't there.

"I put it on Facebook and people have gone mad. It's a bit of a mean thing to do, and the children were upset.

"They would have had to come through the front garden. We just tried to do something nice."

Tracey said she hasn't reported the theft because she thinks the police have got too many other things to do, and it doesn't have any monetary value.

But she said the community had rallied round in the wake of the theft.

"It's more just, why would you do that?" she added. "We were just trying to make everyone smile and give people something to look at.

"We've had a look around the block and my husband went out to look, but we haven't seen anything.

"I think somebody has thought 'I'll have that for Easter.' I would have made them one if they wanted one."

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