An elderly woman has been caught sabotaging a family's Christmas lights in the middle of the night.

Armed with a pair of scissors and under the cover of darkness the “Scrooge” was caught on CCTV as she shuffled up to a tree and cut the wires to stop the flashing lights. After looking around to check she had not been spotted, she made her escape.

Dan Hubbert, 41, shared the footage of the incident at his home in Cottingham, near Hull, on Facebook.

Alongside he asked whether he should call the police or turn a blind eye to the incident.

“So it turns out some old gal doesn't like my Christmas lights,” he said. “What should I do? Ring the old bill or let her go free?”

Later he added: “All she needed to do was pop round and ask me to turn them off during the night."

Some friends said she should pay for the lights and encouraged Mr Hubbert to report her to the police.

One person called the woman a “Scrooge” and another joked Mr Hubbert should send a class of children singing Christmas songs round to her home.

The dad of two told Hull Live he would have immediately called the police if he’d discovered youths were to blame for the damage.

But instead he’s been left torn over what to do.

CCTV footage captured a woman entering Dan Hubbert's garden in Cottingham, near Hull, on Sunday, 9 December, 2018, and cutting his family's Christmas lights. ( Dan Hubbert/Facebook )

“Everyone wants me to ring the police on her,” he said. “She should pay for them. If it was youths I would’ve been straight on the blower to the police but she’s old. You can’t start going across the road and chopping down lights.”