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Derek Sheehin with one of his other plants

A pub landlord was shocked after thieves stole a heavy £300 shrub from his beer garden by hauling it over a 6ft wall.

Derek Sheerin, who runs The Corridor, in Cowley Road, Oxford, noticed one of his shrubs had gone missing when he opened up the following day.

And the licensee got a shock when he checked his overnight CCTV footage and realised three men had taken the large shrub.

Pictures from the pub's own cameras showed the men running off with the plant down Cowley Road at about 3.20am on Thursday.

They then smashed the plant pot on the pavement and ran off with just the shrub down Union Street.

Mr Sheerin, who has been licensee of the pub, previously the New Inn, for the past 20 years said: "I don't know what on earth possessed them to do this.

"It's a big shrub with a heavy pot on the bottom. It must have taken a great effort to get it over my wall.

"You can't tell that they are drunk from the CCTV footage but if follows that when people are drunk they get up to all sorts of silly japes like this.

"They must have been inebriated to do something like this at that time in the morning."

Mr Sheerin is offering a £100 reward for information which leads to the successful prosecution of the three men, described as white and in their late teens to early 20s.

The men also left a trail of earth from the uprooted shrub which ended outside the Tesco Metro on Cowley Road.

Mr Sheerin, said: "I'm not expecting to get the shrub back. I don't know what they thought they were going to do with the shrub once they'd stolen it, but it will cost me about £300 to replace it."

Police spokesman Toby Shergold said: "The theft of a shrub from The Corridor has been reported to us and we'll be looking at the CCTV tape from the pub."

Anyone with information on the theft should call Oxford police on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

4:39pm Monday 24th March 2008

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