A statue of the baby Jesus has been stolen from its crib at a city's historic nativity scene.
The wooden display, featuring Italian-made figures more than half a century old, was also vandalised during the incident.
Now the culprit is being urged to return the stolen statue by council officers in Preston, Lancashire, where the theft took place on Tuesday, December 21.
The statue of Jesus formed part of a traditional nativity display at Preston Flag Market, Lancs Live reports.
Appealing for help on Twitter, Preston City Council said: "Sadly, Preston's well-loved nativity scene has been vandalised and baby Jesus is missing.
"This is a very popular scene with residents and visitors. Please bring him to the Town Hall before Christmas, so he can be returned to the display."
In a later update, the council said: "The council's maintenance team have since repaired the crib, so visitors to Preston can still visit this popular attraction in the meantime.
"For the time being, we have installed a temporary replacement figurine in the crib, until the other one is returned."
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