Thieves pinch more than 100 bushes from home near Horsham - for a second time

Liz McIlraith, who lives near Fulford Hill on the A264, said she has had a second batch of laurel bushes torn up just months after she first fell victim to thieves.

In November Liz had 100 laurel bushes – worth £1,000 – pinched from her home.

She replanted the bushes in January but they were again taken just weeks later on February 11.

Liz said: “It’s so frustrating. It’s quite soul-destroying.”

She added that she reacted with disbelief when she discovered the theft.

Liz said she installed an electric fence to protect her garden following the first theft, but that thieves must have turned it off.

The bushes won’t be replaced for a third time according to Liz.

She said instead of laurel bushes she hopes to plant a hedge that is more difficult to steal.

A spokesman for Sussex Police confirmed they had received a report of the theft and that there was a previous such theft, of about 100 laurel bushes, from the same address, reported on 6 November 2019.

He said none had been recovered and no arrests had been made.

Anyone with information can contact police at www.sussex.police.uk/contact/af/contact-us/ or by calling 101, quoting serial 228 of 12/02.