Stump up £10 or the gnome gets it!
Norman’s kidnapper sends ransom demand with threat to behead the captive if owner fails to pay by today
IN the two years he’s been lining up alongside plaster cast pals including Nessie, a crocodile and a meerkat, Norman the gnome has had his share of scrapes. When the wind knocked him down, for example, it took some loving emergency repair work by owner Lorraine Dearing to glue his hand back in place.
Now, however, Norman finds himself in an altogether stickier situation, kidnapped and held to ransom in what appears to be a bad taste practical joke. And Mrs Dearing has yet to see the funny side.
The first she knew of her gnome’s disappearance was when she discovered a scrawled ransom note on blue card demanding ‘ 1,000p’ for Norman’s safe return by today.
It was accompanied by a picture of a kitchen knife held under his throat and a threat to ‘ behead’ him. The note read: ‘I know you wouldn’t want this to happen so listen to me.
‘Leave the money in your beautiful hanging baskets! If it’s not there then you don’t want to know what will happen to them!’
Mrs Dearing, 49, of Swindon, said she was ‘ shocked’ by the threats but would not bow to the demands – particularly as Norman had cost just £5 when he was new.
The mother of one said: ‘I just want him back and I don’t know what to do. He is a part of my garden. It just doesn’t look the same with him gone.
‘I got home from work and didn’t notice he was missing, but then I looked through the post and saw the note.
‘It was written in quite scruffy handwriting and there was a picture of Norman with a kitchen knife next to his throat. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
‘We have about 12 other ornaments in the garden and there are some really interesting ones that are worth more money.
‘I don’t understand why anyone would take Norman. He was just standing by himself on a piece of grass by the living room window.
‘There’s no way that I’m paying the ransom. They’ve also asked for the money in my hanging baskets in 1,000 pennies. If I put 1,000 pennies in them they’d fall down, it would be too heavy for them.’
Newspaper sales executive Mrs Dearing, who lives with husband Leslie, 47, a tyre-fitter, discovered that Norman was missing on Tuesday. The couple began filling their front garden with ornaments five years ago and their collection includes a Loch Ness monster and even singing birds.
Mrs Dearing added: ‘I don’t know who would do anything like this. I’m just hoping whoever it is has the heart to return him to me. I’d hate to think of anything awful happening to him.’
She said she had not reported the incident to the police as she hoped Norman would be returned.