A SCANTILY clad mannequin was taken on a rampage through Felixstowe town centre after it was stolen from a lingerie shop.

joannne.constable@eveningstar.co.uk

A SCANTILY clad mannequin was taken on a rampage through Felixstowe town centre after it was stolen from a lingerie shop.

Strides, on Hamilton Road, has been plagued by vandals, who routinely cause up to £1,000 damage to its distinctive curved windows.

The latest attack involved three men who smashed the windows with a works warning lamp at the clothes shop to snatch a mannequin clad only in a bra and knickers.

The plastic model was also used as a tool to wreak havoc on five different cars in three streets.

The kidnapped dummy was later recovered but had a severe damage to its head and been stripped of its arms.

Caroline Aldis, manager of the shop, saw the humorous side to the tale, however. "We have got to take it in our stride," she said.

In a notice posted on the woodchip boarding covering the windows Mrs Aldis has put a notice up explaining what had happened and that the shop was still open.

"We apologise for the new look of our store," the message reads. "It's just that some poor man fell so passionately in love with one of our models because of the lingerie she was wearing that he broke our window, and kidnapped her. She has since come back a naked, broken woman."

Mrs Aldis had cheekily added: "In the interest of the safety of the men folk of Felixstowe can we suggest that all you ladies visit our store so that out staff, who are experts in advising on the full range of lingerie available, … can help ensure that your man will want to stay home with you rather than risk life, limb (or other appendage), breaking through our window to get at the models who will unfortunately run off with anybody."

The company, which owns the shop, has had to make repeated insurance claims and Mrs Aldis is worried that the insurance company will soon stop paying up because it has happened so often.

The tall glass panes are so expensive because they have to be shaped in to a curve to fit the window and due to regulations concerning the listed windows it is compulsory that they are identically replaced each time.

On the same night the model was thought to have been dismembered her dainty arm used to smash car windows on Ranelagh Road, Undercliff Road West and York Road, where the mannequin had been stripped of its underwear.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident at Strides, where the window was smashed at 3am on Saturday, June 22, and the five reports of criminal damage to vehicles was thought to have occurred between 10pm on June 21 and 10.45am June 22.

Anyone with information should contact PC Sears at Felixstowe on 01473 613500.