A DISTRAUGHT mother-of-two has pleaded with pranksters after their entire Halloween display, including a cherished wooden chair belonging to her daughter, was stolen from their garden after the family had spent Monday welcoming trick or treaters.

Lisa Culshaw, who lives at the Lacock end of Corsham Road, decorated her garden with carved and illuminated pumpkins and a four-foot skeleton sitting on a wooden chair but was stunned when they were all pinched in the dead of Monday night.

The family are distraught at the loss of the child’s chair, as it was a gift to 16-year-old daughter Benita, who goes to Corsham School, by her grandmother when she was born.

Son Arthur, 12, a pupil at Sheldon School, Chippenham, and dad Aidan had joined in the fun decorating the garden on Halloween night, with the skeleton being bought on eBay specially.

“We got up early in the morning because the kids had school and we had to attend a funeral and the first thing I noticed when I opened the curtains was that everything had gone,” Mrs Culshaw said.

“I thought maybe my husband had brought everything in but he hadn’t, and I just had this sinking feeling and we had to tell the kids. It was devastating.

“The pumpkins mean nothing to us, the skeleton cost money but I can live with that, however the chair was priceless. It has got some damage on one of the front legs from where we looked after my brother’s dogs and every mark and every scratch has a bit of a story.

"It is a talking piece for us and it means the world.”

The Culshaws say they know their neighbours well and have left decorations in the garden overnight before.

“Someone is obviously that mean and we look around and feel paranoid because only our garden was targeted and it is quite upset- ting. We haven’t reported anything to the police," said Mrs Culshaw, who works at Innovate UK in Swindon.

"I understand that people sometimes play pranks and I don’t want to press charges, I just want the chair back.

“It has taught us a really valuable lesson and I do really regret not bringing that chair in. Benita is so upset. If they took it away during the night, why can’t they return it during the night?

“I would love to wake up one morning, open the curtains and see it there.”