Brazen thieves swipe family’s beloved bronze statues from Sellindge

Brazen thieves swiped four large bronze statues weighing several tonnes from a pub landlord’s garden and made off undetected.

Joanne Wootten sounded the alarm after £12,000 worth of sculptures were snatched from her Sellindge home, just meters from where they were relaxing.

The statues were stolen from the family’s garden. Picture: Kent Police

The 51-year-old owner of Brabourne’s Blue Anchor Pub is saddened after feeling the ornaments were “beamed out of the sky”.

She added: “All the items were at least 50 to 100ft away from the wall and we just cannot work out how they got into our property and over the walls without any damage.

“We have an electric gate so they could not have got through there. There were no footprints, no damage to the wall or gate.

“We have houses directly opposite so how did they put a very large vehicle out of the front of our property without anybody hearing or seeing anything?

“We own the Blue Anchor Pub and we have been talking to our customers about it and nobody can work it out.

“It is almost like they were beamed out of the sky.”

The theft happened between 7.30pm on April 4 and 6.30am the next morning.

The wishing well weighs around a tonne. Picture: Kent Police

Four items were swiped from her home in Stonehill including a stag, deer, baby and a soild bronze wishing well which weighs around a tonne on its own.

Mrs Wootten, who had the statues for around two years, said the animals cost around £7,000 and the wishing well was £5,500.

The landlady added: “It took six of us just to get it off the back of a pickup truck when we first got it.

“For them to lift it up over the wall or up the steps, they would have needed at least eight men.

“Everybody has checked their CCTV for me and nobody has seen a thing. It is a mystery.

Joanne Wootten’s daughter thought she saw someone under the stag that evening. Picture: Kent Police

“It is scary and I feel like my home has been invaded even though they did not come into the house.

“We are constantly looking out the window now and I have ordered more CCTV cameras.

“The night before my son and daughter were driving home and it was raining heavy. My daughter came in and said ‘someone is lying underneath the stag’.

“The stag is right outside the living room window and we said ‘do not be silly’. We just assumed it was the glare from the lights and the rain on the base of the stag.

“Unfortunately, we ignored it but now we know there probably was someone checking to see if they were bolted to the ground.

Her daughter thought she saw someone under the stag that evening. Picture: Kent Police

“It is so brazen for them to do it while we were sitting in our living room.”

Anyone with information regarding the thefts should call the police on 01843 222289 quoting 46/55577/24.

You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111, or by using the online form on its website.