Brown wheelie bin owners in Lanner have been left feeling rubbish after the 'kidnapping' of a favourite plastic receptacle just before Christmas.

Brazen bin bandits pulled up outside the home of Gareth Lyddon in a car and drove off with the bin called Wendy being pulled alongside by a hand out the window.

Fortunately the incident just after midnight on December 17 was captured on CCTV put up on the house.

Posting the video on Facebook at the weekend after hearing nothing from the kidnappers for a month Mr Lyddon said: "My favourite Brown Wheelie Bin (aka Wendy) that was handed down to me by Cornwall Council was absconded from outside my house.

"Please find the video of the perpetrators, as yet I haven't had any contact and after almost a month, no ransom demands, but am really concerned that she may have been dumped in a ditch after they took advantage of her good nature. She was so full of life and had so much going for her.

"If you know of her whereabouts please inform me as soon as possible, it feels like we lost a member of our family and everyone is so upset."

He said he was setting up a support group in The Coppice - Lanner where he hoped to get a sufficient number of concerned Lanner citizens to put a search party together.

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However there was good news this week, when shortly after the video was posted, Wendy was returned to the bosom of the family.

Mr Lyddon told the Packet: "Fortunately, Wendy rejoined our family soon after the post, but as yet too distraught to discuss what happened soon after the video.

He added: "Rumours in the village suggest that this is not a one-off incident, some have speculated bin trafficking, perhaps Wendy managed to escape!"