Trees vandalised in mystery attack (From Bucks Free Press)

Trees vandalised in mystery attack

11:09am Wednesday 20th August 2008 in

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AN ELDERLY couple were shocked to return from a trip to Australia to find their garden trees stripped of their foliage.

Anne and Ray Spencer from St Peter Street, Marlow, had been visiting their daughter in Sydney for a month.

On Tuesday they arrived back at Heathrow and made their way home, arriving shortly before 7am.

Anne, 71, said: "We sat down to have a cup of tea and some breakfast and I looked out the window and thought, 'Something's wrong out there'."

The branches and leaves of five leylandii-type trees in their back garden had been completely sawn off, leaving only bare trunks.

Even more strangely the back gate to their garden was locked, and there was no sign of any of the branches or leaves on the ground.

Ray, 73, said: "It's complete mystery. All I can think of is that someone had a ladder against the wall, cut them off and pulled them into the path behind the house.

"It was almost like magic - like Doctor Who had been down and made them all just disappear."

The couple called the police to report the incident. Later on, they checked their email to find one from their next door neighbour, who claimed to have seen a man in their garden.

Anne said: "My next door neighbour said that she and her husband saw a man cutting the branches off.

"The gate was locked, but you could go over with a ladder."

She went on to say that the trees were now completely ruined: "I don't think they've a chance in hell of living. They haven't got a bit of green on them.

"My guesstimate is that it will cost around £500 to clear the ground. To plant new trees and to buy them I would have thought in the region of £1,500."