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Explaining why he makes the Santa model every year, he said: “All the kids walk past our house to school, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to do something funny while they were going to school for Christmas.”

He added that he had “no idea” who stole this year’s creation.

Local resident Liz Jones, who regularly walks her dog past Santa, said the theft was “disgraceful”.

“It’s hard enough to find something to make kids laugh these days, with all the rain, wind and bad weather we’ve had,” she said.

In recent years, Mr. De Fraine has positioned his Santa figure in a variety of situations, including climbing a ladder, waving and drinking a bottle of wine.

He said the replacement was accomplished with the help of “the local (plumbing) pipe dealer,” which is largely what the model is made of.

“The new one has a tracker in it, so if they try it again, it will be tracked to where it is dumped or to whoever’s house it ends up in,” he added.