THIEVES stole a granite angel statue from a funeral parlour.

John J Smith Memorials was broken into at about 1.30am on Sunday morning.

The building’s front window, which has since been boarded up, had reportedly been smashed with a block of bricks.

During the raid a heavy headstone was taken before being found dumped on the roadside 150-metres from the parlour in Old Road, Clacton.

The statue, which depicts an angel next to a blank canvas, was discovered damaged at about 7am on the morning of the break-in by Clacton resident John, 61.

He said: “I came across the statue on my way back from the allotment and I questioned whether I was seeing correctly.

“It was lying flat on the floor on the grass verge in front of a block of flats and I had to look twice.

“But then I realised it was the real McCoy and probably worth about £4,000 - it was beautiful.

“In my maturing years I never thought I would come across such a thing whilst living in Clacton.”

After marvelling at the statue and appreciating its saintly elegance, John soon contacted the police, who attended the scene.

Given the sheer weight of the stolen angel he believes a gang of crooks, as opposed to a single thief, must have been involved in the burglary.

“The police officer advised me it was probably from John J Smith and the premises had experienced a break-in,” he added.

“He thanked me for my efforts and took over, and also advised me he was waiting for the fingerprint expert to arrive on the scene.

“Unless you are the Terminator you would have had no chance of lifting the statue by yourself.

“It is shocking behaviour by the people who committed the burglary.

“These people have no morals and they deserve to have failed in their burglary attempt.”

A spokesman for Essex Police has now confirmed the force is investigating the burglary.

He said: “No arrests have been made in connection with the burglary and our enquiries are continuing.”

“Witnesses should call 101 and quote incident number 42/176141/21.”