Members of a UK church have been left "devastated" by the theft of two large nutcrackers worth £500. Two men driving a black Audi A3 were caught on CCTV using bolt cutters to remove the chains holding the festive decorations down at Alive Church in Norwich in late November.

The nutcrackers were part of a larger festive display paid for by members of the community, with their respective costs of around £250 gifted by a resident using their inheritance, the Norwich Evening News reports.

Pastor Jo Thorne said: "We're gutted, absolutely devastated. It's an assault on the magic of Christmas. We're a small community church, we can't afford to replace them."

The nutcrackers would have greeted local children as they entered Santa's Grotto as part of the Alive Christmas Experience event planned for December 21.

"The display took our volunteers two weeks to build," Ms Thorne said. "They were bought to be a display piece we would use year-on-year."

The anonymous volunteer who paid for the two statues added: "I am saddened by the sheer disregard for decency that these men have shown.

"I wanted to be a small part of adding to the Christmas light they bring to the community."

Alive Church also hosts an annual Christmas Toy Appeal, providing gifts for local children in a bid to ease the financial burden on parents.

Two Christmas trees decorated with ornaments crafted by schoolchildren were vandalised elsewhere in the city on the same weekend, the NEN reported.

A lifesize nutcracker was also stolen by a brazen electric bike rider in Edinburgh late last month, leaving a local business owner nearly £1,000 out of pocket.