Boy, 3, devastated at quad bike theft

A three-year-old boy has been left devastated after a mini-quad bike which was bought for him as a joint birthday and Christmas present was stolen from his home near Shrewsbury.

Samuel Jones had only had the quad bike for about a month after being given it as an early present ahead of Christmas and his fourth birthday which is next month by his parents Dean and Denise.

Dad Dean, 37, from Dorrington, said his son could not understand why the £500 quad bike had gone missing, after it was stolen from a shed at the family home sometime between 10am and 2pm on Thursday.

He said: "It was a joint birthday and Christmas present for my son, and he has had it early. He knows it's missing but he can't understand where it has gone.

"He's upset and it's awkward to explain to him where it has gone.

"You save up for these items and buy them and then some low life scum comes and takes them away from you.

"I would like to appeal to whoever took it for it to be returned."

Samuel's mum Denise said the family was all unsettled about the theft.

She said Samuel, who has four sisters, had loved using the quad bike in the few weeks since he had been given it.

She said: "We wanted him to start using it and get the hang of it before Christmas.

"He loved it, put it in the shed and put a blanket on it and kissed it at night. He asked about it every morning and wanted to go on it everyday, which he did.

"It was all he used to ask about. I was crying all Thursday night about it. We all got very unsettled about it."

Police today confirmed that the theft had been reported to them and appealed for any witnesses or people who knew the whereabouts of the quad bike to contact them.

A description of the stolen vehicle has also been released by Dean, who said it is a yellow and black Smart Shark 50cc mini quad bike.

Anybody with any information about the theft is asked to call police on 0300 3333000.

By John Kirk