A keen gardener was �distraught to discover thieves had stolen 12 pots full of flowers from the front of her house.

Lisa Levy, of Comyns Road, Dagenham, says the pots went missing from her drive sometime between 10.30pm and midnight last Tuesday.

“My son noticed they were gone,” the pensioner told the Post. “We couldn’t believe it.

“They’d taken everything apart from the hanging �baskets and couple of heavy pots. I’d spent a lot of time tending to the flowers and had spent around �250 on them, so I’m really upset about it.”

Lisa, who reported the �incident to police, believes the culprits will try and sell the plants.

“I don’t think it was children messing about. I’ve heard of this happening ��before and apparently people can make money out of selling stolen pots and flowers.”

She and her son, Philip have now moved the remaining pots to the back garden.

“I won’t be growing any more flowers out the front now, just in case they are �stolen too. It’s a such a shame as it was nice to brighten the street up. Neighbours used to comment on how lovely they looked.”

“It makes me so angry that thieves like this can ruin it for everyone.”

A police spokeswoman confirmed the theft had been reported and said they had no other record of recent plant thefts in the area.