IT could be a turf war.

A stunned homeowner in eastern England woke up to find his entire front lawn missing, UK media reported today.

Steve Woolnough, 54, said he had no idea why anyone would want to steal the nine-square-metre artificial grass lawn from his yard in Ipswich.

The father-of-two, who has been left with a large patch of dirt, told The Sun, "I'm absolutely seething over it, I really am. How dare someone steal what I have had to work hard for. You try and make your house look nice and someone comes along and steals what you have got".

The lawn was taken sometime overnight on March 19.

Mr Woolnough said the turf was simply too heavy for one person to steal on their own, pointing the blame at a group of thieves with a vehicle, BBC News reported.

A spokesperson for Suffolk Police said, "It would have taken some time to remove such a large quantity of Astro Turf from this garden and needed a vehicle to take it away".

Mr Woolnough said the artificial grass would cost about £250 to replace.

