AN angry Sidmouth gardener, whose work tools were stolen at the weekend, has complained about the police s shambolic treatment of him. David Cobley, 45, of Arcot Park, said an officer told him they would not be sending anyone out to speak to him despite

AN angry Sidmouth gardener, whose work tools were stolen at the weekend, has complained about the police's "shambolic" treatment of him.

David Cobley, 45, of Arcot Park, said an officer told him they would not be sending anyone out to speak to him despite a further attempt by thieves to steal more items the following night.

The self employed gardener discovered his green Hayter 48 electric start lawnmower and white Stilh RS15E strimmer, worth around �1,000, had been stolen from the grounds of Hunters Moon Hotel, Sid Road over night on Sunday.

He rang the police to report it missing after he tried to do in person at Sidmouth Police Station, which was closed, but did not hear back from them for the rest of the day.

On Monday evening Mr Cobley believes between 8.15pm and 8.45pm, an attempt was made to steal a lawnmower and his trailer, which had been moved about 200 yards across the grounds of the hotel.

A distressed Mr Cobley then went to the police station on Tuesday morning to report the second crime and he said he was told it was unlikely an officer would visit the crime scene.

He said: "I'm very peeved. I had to go to the police station for them even to ring me.

"My argument is how can they not send anyone out to see me but they can have an officer standing outside Sidmouth Police Station with a speed gun looking for people driving at 32 or 33 miles per hour.

"This was my livelihood which has been stolen from me. I had to go out and buy a new lawnmower and strimmer so I can continue working. It's difficult enough as things are without this happening.

"I have got a lock for my trailer so this won't happen again. I want to warn people in the area to lock everything away as the thieves could come back."

But Sergeant Andy Turner, of Sidmouth Police, insisted his officers treat every crime with the utmost importance.

"Any non attendance crime is allocated by me and it depends on the workload of our officers. They will make contact with the aggrieved if they don't attend the incident straight away.

"We have recently had an increase in the amount of police officers in Sidmouth and we have one constable on duty in Sidmouth 24 hours a day, which we didn't always have.

"My officers are 100 per cent dedicated and committed to the job and do everything they can to catch offenders."

Anyone with information regarding the stolen items should contact the police on 08452 777444 quoting crime reference number KS/09/165 and KS/09/171.