A COMEDIAN says his car was stolen after thieves took his jacket while he was ice skating.

Simon Evans attended the Royal Pavilion Ice Rink in Brighton with his son Edward on Sunday evening.

But moments after laying his coat at the side, a pair of thieves appeared to grab it and left.

Concerned, he returned to his car but found that too had been stolen, leading him to fear the thieves had followed him in the hope of taking his 2011 silver Mercedes S350.

Mr Evans said skaters often remove clothing when they realise the rink is not as cold as they had supposed, and he had put his own coat on a lighting rig near an observation bay.

He saw a red-haired teenage girl and dark-haired teenage boy sitting on his jacket, and a moment after completing a circuit, he saw his coat was gone.

“It was pretty much immediately, within a minute, it was gone,” he said.

Managers said CCTV showed the jacket being grabbed and the suspects leaving. It was only as Mr Evans returned to his car that he realised the thieves had taken that as well.

He said: “Perhaps they have taken it joyriding and it will be found in a ditch or burnt out somewhere, or maybe it has been stolen for parts to order.

“But they seemed very young, I can’t even imagine them driving it, so if it was a theft to order, that would be very surprising and sinister, as I didn’t realise that was going on.

“It is very peculiar. I don’t want to blame the ice rink, I just want people to be aware that thieves are there.

“Lots of people leave their hats and coats by the side as it appears to be safe and secure, you leave it at the side and think it will be fine, but it isn’t.

“I feel foolish, it did not occur to me that from the jacket they could follow up and end up taking my car.”

The Royal Pavilion Ice Rink said there are lockers for visitors to use.

In a statement a spokesman said: “We are so sorry that this has happened at the rink.

“Unfortunately we are unable to take responsibility for looking after our customers’ possessions if they are left outside of the lockers in a public area while they are skating.

“We do hope that Mr Evans is able to recover his possessions and we are assisting the police with their enquiries in any way we can.”

Police say the theft is believed to have happened after 6.15pm and said: “All lines of enquiry are being investigated.”

Anyone with information is asked to visit the Sussex Police website or call 101 and quote reference 1010 of 04/11.