Thief 'steals joy of Christmas' as they swipe reindeers from Birmingham garden

by · Birmingham Live

This is the moment a 'heartless thief' ripped a decorative reindeer from their spot on a Birmingham front lawn. The theft has led to their owner accusing the perpetrator of 'stealing the joy of Christmas'.

The homeowner said the thief struck twice in a street off California Way, Bartley Green, on Saturday (November 23), while their owner was on holiday. The opportunist thief, pictured with his hood up, pulls two reindeer decorations from outside the home in the late evening and runs off.

And then, 30 minutes later, they are filmed returning to steal a smaller reindeer to complete the set. The fuming 37-year-old owner, who asked not to be named, said he woke on Sunday morning to get a return flight to the UK after a week's holiday in the Canary Islands to see the theft take place.

He said the reindeer decorations were ‘loved’ by neighbours in the street and said the thief was ‘so low’ for taking the items.

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He said the thief was a ‘despicable human’ and compared them to the Grinch. He said: "We were actually on holiday. My mother-in-law was house-sitting for us as we have a dog. She had gone to bed 30 minutes before.

“The thief took three reindeer in total. He took the first two and came back 30 minutes later to take the third one.

"The larger of the three reindeer had lights attached to it, so they had to cut the wire. To replace them will cost £300 to £400.

"I just think that it’s so low. So awful. Somebody wants to steal the joy of Christmas."

A heartless thief grabs a large reindeer decoration from a lawn in a street off California Way in Bartley Green, before taking a second then return half hour later to snatch a third

He continued: "We work so hard to buy decorations. We love them. The rest of the street love them, too. We put them up a couple of days before we went on holiday for a week.

“We woke up to come and get a flight home and got a notification. Usually, it’s foxes on the front lawn.

The thief stoops to steal the third smaller reindeer from the set at the Bartley green home before calmly walking away from the scene

And added: "We got home on Sunday, and with every movement yesterday, I thought maybe somebody’s come back to get some more. It put me on edge last night.

“It’s not the value of the things. The reason we decorate our house is to spread some joy to people. And then someone’s just come and take our personal property.”

The 'much-loved' reindeer set are worth £300 to £400 but the theft has taken more than that their owner has said saying the culprit has 'stolen the joy of Christmas'

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: “We're investigating the theft of three reindeer figures taken from outside a home in Hollister Drive, Birmingham, on Saturday (23 Nov) between 10.30pm and 11.30pm.

“Anyone with information can contact us via Live Chat on our website or call 101, quoting crime reference 20/979409/24.”