DETECTIVES are hunting a thief responsible for taking a grandmother’s Christmas display worth hundreds of pounds.

Dawn Richards had inflatable snowmen and lights worth around £500 taken from outside her Leigh Road home early on Monday morning.

The Penhill grandmother-of-nine said: “It was very upsetting when I got up and saw they were gone. I didn’t hear anyone outside the house.”

The massive light display included a giant inflatable polar bear, three inflatable snowmen, two Father Christmas inflatables and a penguin. A projector shining green laser lights onto the front of the terraced home was also taken.

Dawn said she had put up the decorations on December 9. “I put them up for my dad, Eddie, really,” she said. “He passed away 27-years-ago on December 10 and he was a big Christmas man. We’d always done it for him.”

The reason for the theft remained a mystery: “I presume they must have taken them to sell them, but I don’t know. I just don’t know why someone would take them.”

Wiltshire Police said the Leigh Road incident was one of two Christmas decoration thefts being investigated by police, raising fears of a Grinch crime spree. Officers were keeping an open mind over whether the same thief was responsible for both crimes.

A spokeswoman for the force said: “Thefts of this nature will no doubt cause upset to the victims, especially at this time of year, when their displays should bring happiness and joy to their local communities.

“The Leigh Road decorations, which the victim has been collecting over a number of years, are believed to be worth around £500 and include a large inflatable snowman, two smaller inflatable snowmen, and lights.

“The offender has cut the wires to the electric box in order to steal the lights so it is possible that someone may have been disrupted nearby overnight.

“A similar incident also occurred in Hudson Way overnight in which Christmas lights were stolen from outside an address.

“An inflatable Santa and snowman were also stolen.

“The offender has then attempted to steal lights from the address but has been unsuccessful and has caused damage to part of the fuse box and guttering.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.