A bloke was absolutely stunned when he returned to his home after a night away to discover that his lawn had been stolen.
As crimes go, it’s a pretty niche one, for sure.
Especially given we’re dealing with fake grass, here.
Advert
Of course, burglaries and car thefts do happen, but there isn’t a specific term for someone turning up at your house and nicking your artificial turf.
They do say that the grass is always greener on the other side, though.
Perhaps that has something to do with this bizarre crime?
Maybe the thief was jealous of the lawn, and decided that they couldn’t take it anymore.
Advert
Either way, it was a very strange way to arrive home for Danny Baks.
He turned up back at his house in Darwen, Lancashire, on October 1 and immediately thought something looked ‘off’.
After a minute, he noticed that someone had uprooted the artificial grass out the front of his house and made off with it.
His daughter asked: "Where has the grass gone?"
A valid question, if ever there was one.
Advert
The 43-year-old – Danny, that is – estimates that the value of the grass is between £80 and £100, so it’s not an insignificant theft.
He got to sleuthing, and found that a number of other people have noticed things from their own gardens going missing in Darwen, too.
He explained: "I came home on Sunday morning with my daughter and something just looked off.
“The penny didn't even drop straight away.
"As I was unlocking the door, my daughter turned around to me and said, where has the grass gone?
Advert
“I was like what, where's that gone?
"You don't expect someone to take a bit of artificial grass."
He continued: "Obviously you don't want lose between £80-100, whatever it was.
“But it's not like a gold diamond ring or anything like that, so who would want to take that?"
Searching through social media, Danny found that one neighbour had a bench stolen, and others had reported plant pots missing.
Advert
Danny’s property is rented, and he only moved in back in April.
Obviously, he didn’t think that he’d have to secure the artificial grass too much, because who nicks artificial turf, right?
"It getting nicked doesn't really enter your head and it was quite heavy,” Danny rightly assessed.
Now, he’s going to put cameras up outside the house to stop this sort of thing happening again, but there’s already been a real cost.
Danny said: "The repercussions from this though is I have my daughter full-time and she's 12.
“She's now frightened that they'll come back and try and get in the house.
"So she's scared of being at home on her own now.
“So that's had a knock-on effect with her."
Tom Wood