BELATED Christmas cheer has come to a Stourport couple after they were re-united with their stolen outdoor Christmas decorations.

"I came home from work at 6.30am last Thursday and my wife Jennifer asked me if I had moved the Father Christmas face and lights from in front of the house," said George Nunn, of Layamon Walk. "I checked the garden but they had gone."

Mr Nunn, 35, who works nights as a rotor moulder in Hartlebury, soon learned other residents' exterior embellishments on the Walshes estate had disappeared. George and Jennifer Nunn with their seasonal display in The Walshes.

"A girl down the road had a Father Christmas sitting on the moon taken, and someone in Hermitage Way had a Santa Claus pinched from their garage roof, " he said.

The trail to the seasonal thief started when Mrs Nunn's cousin, who lives in Old Farm Walk, asked if anyone knew who might be behind the disappearances. They soon traced the culprit and retrieved the missing festive lights.

"Quite a few houses - about 15 - round here have started putting decorations up outside," said Mr Nunn. "It's spreading bit by bit, even though it costs a lot of money to do it."