ROMANTIC fiancé Christopher Holloran's bid to sell his much loved motocross bike so he could take his bride-to-be on a surprise honeymoon has been destroyed by thieves.

He had wanted to whisk Aimee Patterson off to an exotic destination in the Maldives or Mauritius and was willing to sacrifice his motorbike to pay the bill.

The couple believe they have become victims of an organised gang who patrol the Gumtree website looking for potential victims.

Just days after he advertised his bike for sale on the site for £3,000 it was stolen from a locked garage at their home in Osmund Close, Devizes during the early hours of Saturday.

Miss Patterson, 28, said: "A few days before we received a strange text that was just letters. After the theft I realised that when you upload to Gumtree it gives your exact location unless you turn it off.

"I have contacted five or six other people who have bikes advertised and several of them also said they had received texts and another one had had their bike stolen.

"I really want to warn other people to be careful if they use Gumtree not to allow their location to show up."

The couple who have been together for more than five years are planning to marry in Calstone in October followed by a reception at Wellington Barn.

Miss Patterson, who in 2011 was named BBC Plumber of the Year, and Mr Holloran, 30, who works as a site manager for a building firm, were looking forward to their big day after a number of setbacks to their plans.

She said: "I was involved in a car accident and hurt my hip and I have had to undergo a couple of operations so we had to postpone previous plans.

"Christopher wanted to make the wedding perfect and I hadn't realised he had been planning to use the money from the bike for a very special honeymoon.

"I don't know what we will do now. Someone said we would have to go to Butlins."

The couple realised the garage at the side of their house had been broken into on Saturday morning and immediately called police. In addition to the red Honda motocross bike a cycle and tools were also taken.

Officers found the door to the garage had been forced and found footprints in a vegetable patch but there were no shoe treads to take an impression from.

It is thought the thief must have had a van parked nearby to carry the motocycle and other stolen items.

Miss Patterson said: "I didn't hear anything and we did not realise the garage had been broken into until the morning."

PC Walter Amos appealed for witnesses to ring 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111, where information can be left anonymously.