A DEESIDE man has been left "paranoid" about the security of his property after a digger was stolen from his drive in a daytime theft.

CCTV footage shows a man making his way on to the drive of the property on Wepre Lane in Connah's Quay, which had been secured by a locked gate, and then driving off with the digger a short time afterwards.

The man then reportedly loaded the digger into a van and drove off at about 2.10pm on Tuesday, February 5.

The digger was taken from the property of a shaken Gary Woodward, who was having work done on his drive and garden.

The Leader:

"I'm not happy at all," he said. "It was taken from my home in the middle of the day.

"One of the most frustrating things is that the police didn’t even come out to see me.

"I know they're stretched but it makes lose the trust that police are always there to protect us."

Chris Lamb, who was doing the work at Mr Woodward's property, is a veteran of the Iraq war and has only just finished post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment.

"It's the absolute cheek of it that gets me," said Mr Lamb, who had only been gone from the site for barely 10 minutes before the theft of his digger took place.

"If it happened in the middle of the night and was done by a man wearing a balaclava, I'd still be annoyed but these things unfortunately do happen from time to time.

"But it's gone on in broad daylight, the guy probably knows full well there's cameras in operation and hasn't even bothered to hide his face because he's so sure he won't get caught.

"If several cameras aren't enough of a deterrent to stop thieves, it's really worrying.

"Luckily I have another digger. If I didn't I wouldn't be able to work."

The Leader:

There have been similar recent incidents reported in the Upton area of Chester and in Wrexham.

Mr Woodward. who works Deeside-based company Roanza, said while the digger did not belong to him, he is now fearful that he might lose his van if people can steal in broad daylight so easily.

He added: "It's just really worrying that someone can wander onto your property in the middle of the day and make off with something like a digger.

"It makes me really concerned and paranoid about my work van which is often parked outside."

Police are now looking to identify the perpetrator. Do you recognise him?

If so, please ring North Wales Police on 101 quoting reference number X016829.

A spokesman for the force told the Leader an investigation is underway and no arrests have been made.