Appeal to find missing large penguin decoration

A social media appeal has been started to find a large penguin decoration which has been stolen after six years of sitting in its owners' front garden.

The fibre glass ornament, named Stanley, was taken from outside the home of Julia and Peter Giles, in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, during the night of 14-15 December.

The four foot-tall emperor penguin, which has a damaged beak, was going to be scrapped from a display at the Winter Wonderland in London's Hyde Park but their son Ralph rescued it in 2019 and gave it to his parents.

Mrs Giles, 72, said the penguin was "priceless" to them and people had been contacting them saying how much they missed seeing him on London Road.

Mrs Giles said "thieves have no conscience and they have no idea of the impact their actions have".

She said Stanley, who was named after Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, meant a lot to them and their neighbours and had become a "village feature".

"There has been so much outpouring of love for this penguin. He wasn't just for Christmas, he was for life," she said.

Mrs Giles said "it has brought so much pleasure to people who have seen him" that we became known as the "penguin house".

She said if they got him back there would be a full-on penguin party.

She said she did not report the theft to the police as they "probably have better things to do than looking for a penguin".

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