A PAPERBOY has spoken of his heartbreak after thieves stole his bike just as he finished his paper round.

Aidan O'Daley, 14, was delivering the last of his Swindon Advertisers in Ipswich Street at about 4.15pm on Monday when two older teenagers grabbed his mountain bike.

But despite Aidan's pleas for them to give his bike back, the thieves merely laughed and headed off down the street.

"I had just pushed my last paper through the door when it happened," said Aidan, who is a student at St Joseph's Catholic College.

"I had seen them earlier in the shop in Ipswich Street and when I put my bike down one of them just came up and took it.

"I was a bit nervous because they were older than me and I said please can I have my bike back', but they just laughed at me. I'm disappointed because it was quite an expensive bike.

"I chose it for my birthday present last month, but now it has gone."

Aidan, who lives in Ferndale Road, has been delivering the Advertiser for six months and enjoys it so much he increased his paper rounds to three.

He is now hoping a nearby news-agent, who witnessed the theft, caught the thieves on CCTV before the blue and silver Rhino Nitrate Alloy mountain bike was stolen.

Aidan's dad Keith, 44, said he can't believe that someone could target his son in broad daylight.

He said: "We're very angry, and totally gobsmacked at how brazen they were to just come up and take the bike in the street in broad daylight.

"Aidan was very upset as the bike was a recent birthday present and was very expensive. We're very thankful he wasn't threatened or harmed, though."

Aidan is not the only Advertiser paperboy to be targeted by thieves.

In May, 13-year-old Nicholas Crisp, of Broome Manor Lane, was horrified to discover his prized possession had been pinched from outside his own house when he went to collect his papers.

And in September, a 15-year-old had just finished his paper round in Crombey Street when he was threatened with a knife by two thugs who demanded a copy of the paper.

Anyone who witnessed the latest incident or has information on the theft of the bike is asked to contact Swindon police on 0845 408 7000 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.