Overnight theft bloomin' cheeky

It was a case of there one day, gone the next for a Napier couple who woke to find their "cheer" had been snatched.

A garden - previously teeming with pretty pale early cheer blooms - was left barren after brazen thieves snuck across their lawn 10m back from the road and made away with about 400 stems in the suburb of Marewa.

With no front fence, it was an easy escape - though the culprit did leave a trail of cut blooms on the way out some time overnight Wednesday.

Steve Flynn said they discovered the act when their daughter went to pick a posy for her teacher, only to find the patch was seriously depleted.

"We have had them in the same place for about 10 years now, I have actually been suspicious in the past that some have gone missing but this was so blatant. It was a big crop - about 400 to 500 stems - now we have about 20 left."

"It's right outside our bedroom window and I didn't hear anything - I suppose it's not a loud activity, they break off pretty easy."

This was just the first crop for spring. There were more bulbs that will start to bloom later. While they would grow back fairly quickly, Mr Flynn wondered why someone would make the effort to steal away with them.

"They aren't that difficult to grow, we really just planted them to look nice across the front of the house - it's not a great loss but it is annoying."

A Police spokesman for the Eastern District Command Centre said it was an unusual crime, and not an item seasoned thieves would usually target.

"It's technically theft. That is a large quantity, not just a couple of flowers on the way past. It would have taken a long time," he said.

"If they wanted to report it, they could."