Stolen statues take away memories a Rotorua man has of his late wife

Wendy Henderson died six years ago and three of her statues were stolen leaving her husband heartbroken. Photo / Supplied

A Rotorua man is pleading for the return of three statues which belonged to his late wife who died six years ago.

Keith Henderson, 76, noticed the white plastered, but worn, statues were missing on Monday morning from his King St property, in Victoria.

"My wife had them for about 40 years . . . it's a pretty mean thing to do," he said sadly.

And with two of the concrete statues about 1m and the third about half the size, the theft was no accident.

He had no photos of the statues.

One statue was a woman carrying a basket, another carried a water jug and the smaller one was a woman reading which stood on a column.

"Alice in Wonderland's sister reading to Alice, that was what my wife thought," he remembered.

He said the statues were "part of our life and it feels like someone has slapped me in the face".

He walked passed them every day, and did not always notice them, but now they were gone, the empty space was a constant reminder of what he had lost.

"It's sort of the story of my life."

The couple grew up together and moved to New Zealand in 1974 from England with their young family.

"We were just soulmates," he said.

"It's unkind and nasty to take things like that."

Henderson lived alone and said while he was not extremely fit he made an effort to make his garden as nice as he could.

All he could do now was hope someone knew something about it, he said.

"But I won't hold my breathe."

A police media spokesman said police received a report of garden ornaments taken from a Rotorua address overnight Sunday.

They still have not been found and inquiries are ongoing.