The now-exposed home of Anthony and Daphne Hawley in Copthorne after thieves stole 30feet of hedging SUS-160830-152355001

Anthony and Daphne Hawley have been left puzzled - and hundreds of pounds out of pocket - after thieves made off with the entire laurel hedge from their front garden.

About 25 bushes, all around 6ft tall, were taken.

The couple, from Copthorne, woke up to find that their neatly-pruned hedge had been stolen while they slept.

Anthony, 75, said he was completely stunned to find that someone would go to the trouble of stealing an entire hedge.

He said they had checked security cameras to see if they could find out what happened.

He said: “We had about 25 laurels at the front of our garden.

“We live on a private estate in Copthorne.

“They have only been planted for two years and they were about six foot high.

“We woke up this morning and everything was just gone.

“It must have happened overnight.

“We never heard anything and when we checked our CCTV cameras they didn’t show anything either.

“But the laurels are gone, you can see quite clearly where they have been dug up and you can also see tyre tracks on the road outside.

“Whoever did it knew what they were doing.”

Anthony explained that he had previously noticed about a week ago that one of the laurels was looking really loose in the ground, but didn’t think anything of it.

He added: “Whoever it was they must have needed a large truck, because 25 laurels certainly aren’t small things.

“They probably cost about £25 each and now we are looking at needing to pay £750 to replace them.”