Police are hunting a “Christmas Grinch” after a vandal was caught on CCTV stealing a model Mrs Santa Claus from an elderly couple’s garden – before cutting its head off.
Disturbing video captured the moment the thug swiped the 4ft-high Mrs Christmas from outside Gertie and John Garner’s home in a midnight raid.
Shockingly, the yob can be heard cackling with laughter as he rips the head off the festive figure before lobbing the body parts into the garden.
The intruder struck just after midnight on Tuesday last week just hours after the couple had festooned their three-bedroom home in Grantham, Lincs., with Christmas decorations.
Devastated Gertie, 78, said: “It was the first night we’d lit it all up.
“I do it every year for my son Christopher who is severely disabled because he loves lights.
“It was his carers who found out what had happened first when they came to get my son out of bed.
“A lot of people get a lot of enjoyment out of the decorations so I don’t see why they can’t just leave them alone.
“What sort of person beheads a figure of Mrs Christmas? It’s like something straight out of the Grinch.
“We will not be beaten by this senseless attack and are already planning bigger and better decorations.”
The couple, who have four grown-up children, 16 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren, put security cameras outside their home three years ago after a spate of vandalism but this is the first time anyone has targeted their festive display.
Gertie added: “We used to put little ornaments on the wall but they kept getting stolen so we glued them instead but then they were smashed.
“The amount of people who stop and look at the decorations is unbelievable.
“People say we should do it for charity but where would people put their money? It would just disappear.”
Lincolnshire Police confirmed they were investigating the attack.