Police are investigating the theft of a lawn from a prestige housing development.

The 70sqm of turf was laid only three weeks ago in Nether Lane, Nutley, near Uckfield.

Construction firm Marcon Homes reinstated the lawn of a bungalow which was being demolished to make way for four houses.

Project manager Trevor Duncan arrived for work to find the turf had been stolen overnight.

He said: "It's not something I've seen before or heard about on any other site. Somebody might have been laying a lawn somewhere else and decided to get the turf on the cheap.

"You could imagine Del Boy coming along and loading the turf up in the back of the van. It's unbelievable.

"It looked really nice and the neighbours were happy with it, so it's very disappointing."

He said the firm had spent £1,200 laying the lawn as a goodwill gesture and he doubted whether the turf would be replaced again.

Florbela Pagett lives a few doors away from the development and was annoyed at the mess left behind by the thieves.

She said: "I've never heard of anyone stealing turf before, it's ridiculous. They should replace it because the site now looks awful."