AN ELDERLY couple's garden paving stones were stolen – as they lay in bed.

Kathleen and Neville Brooks were fast alseep when thieves struck at their home on Bury Road in Tottington.

They woke up to a phone call at 6.30am from a neighbour who told them that part of their garden had been stolen.

Mr Brooks said: "We were in bed and the phone went really early in the morning and it was our neighbour telling us that someone had been in the garden and stolen our flagstones. We were worried that they would come back for the rest and on edge that they would return so we called for someone to come and dig them up and buy them off us."

Mr and Mrs Brooks are the latest victims in what appears to be a spate of incidents where the thieves are stealing York Stone paving slabs.

Mrs Brooks said: "They must have been driving around and looking to see who had these paving stones because ours are in our back garden so how else would they have seen them. We were terrified that they were going to come back again so we asked someone to come and dig the rest of them up, It's a sorry sight and it’s so muddy it's dangerous for us coming in.

"We use our back door after we have been shopping and we are both elderly, it’s dangerous for us walking over this mud."

The couple have lived at the address for 50 years and have never been targeted before.

Roy Vernon, from York Stone Sales Ltd, was called by the couple to remove the remaining 10 square metres of stone.

He said: "The same thing had happened to a man who lived two doors down.

"There have been a lot of reports from Radcliffe, Bury, and Bolton in the last few weeks. People have been calling me to check that I hadn't bought any stolen slabs, so there is obviously a spate at the moment."

The theft in Tottington comes as there were reported stone thefts from across the borough.

A woman in Prestwich had her garden path stolen whilst she was at her mother’s funeral while other residents have also taken to Facebook to complain that the same thing had happened to them. In another incident, paving stones were ripped up and taken from Stand United Reformed Church in Radcliffe.

GMP Radcliffe tweeted that they had eight reports of paving stones being stolen in Bury South over the past week and two burglaries where cement mixers and angle grinder were stolen.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.