A disabled pensioner says he is housebound after louts stole his mobility scooter and set it on fire.

Don Richards, 69, is devastated at losing the £3,000 electric scooter, taken from outside his flat.

The former bus conductor started using a scooter in 1997 after suffering a stroke, angina, undergoing a triple heart by-pass and developing diabetes.

He can walk about his flat using sticks but can only manage a few metres before becoming breathless.

The great-grandfather, whose flat is in Moulsecoomb Way, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, said: "I'm stuck here now. I just don't know how I'm going to be able to get out or how I'm going to get my shopping."

Mr Richards found the burnt-out scooter behind the flats when he set off to go shopping yesterday.

He said: "It was parked inside the flats, which have a security lock. I don't know how they got in here but they did somehow.

"I don't know why someone would want to do this. I don't know how I'm going to get my shopping. I can't afford a home help because I'm only on the pension."

Mr Richards, who is divorced and lives alone, has a wheelchair but fears he will not be able to find anyone to push it, particularly up the hills in Moulsecoomb.

He said: "I shall be stuck in the flat now. I can't get out. I don't know what I'll do."

A spokesman for Sussex Police said the incident was being investigated.