Thieves steals tree chained to a wall in Newport
[gallery] It was six feet tall, attached to a concrete base and chained to a wall – yet thieves still managed to walk away with Mike Barwell's artificial tree.
For the past three years the tree has been a fixture outside the Newport bookseller's shop, which is also his home.
But last Thursday Mr Barwell awoke to find the tree was no longer there – and the shop's CCTV showed exactly what had happened.
Mr Barwell, who has run Newport Book Shop, in Upper Bar, for eight years, said: "The footage shows a guy walking up with two dogs, then three lads come up and have a chat outside the house.
"A guy with the dog is talking with one of the other guys then one of them kicks the tree and walks away.
"Then he bends down and tries to pull it off the wall.
"It was chained up so would've taken quite a bit of effort.
"One of the others helps him yank it off the wall and they run up Station Road with it."
Mr Barwell added: "I would say they took it for a reason rather than just being vandals.
"There were bits of concrete scattered along Station Road."
Mr Barwell, who placed the tree outside his shop to attract customers by attaching notices to its branches, said that the CCTV footage shows people coming out of the Cottage Care Centre, opposite the shop, at the time of the theft.
"I know there were people in the area at the time so I am hoping that someone will have seen something and will go to the police," he said.
The thieves struck last Wednesday at about 9.50pm.
Mr Barwell, who has lived in Newport for 28 years, said he installed two cameras outside his property as he had in the past had trouble from people leaving nearby pubs.
Chris Ammonds, a spokesman for West Mercia Police, said the CCTV showed that two of the youths were wearing jeans and black jackets.
One of the jackets appears to have a logo on the back.
Mr Barwell said one of the dogs looked like a whippet.
Mr Ammonds said: "Our inquiries are ongoing and we are looking at the CCTV footage.
"Members of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams are having a look to see if the thieves are known to them."
He added that anyone wo believes they have information about the theft should call police on 101.
