An eight foot gorilla statue stolen from a Lanarkshire garden centre may have been spotted in England.
Gary the Gorilla was taken from his home outside Reynard's Nursery near Carluke, Lanarkshire. CCTV footage showed brazen crooks unbolting the huge fibreglass mascot before fleeing the scene with it in the back of a van last month.
The owners of the garden centre launched an appeal in a bid to have the popular statue returned to the site. They have now revealed a possible sighting of Gary has been made near Warwick services on the M40 on the back of a black pick-up travelling north.
When Gary was stolen it was believed to have been driven from Carluke towards the Glasgow area.
The garden centre said: "We have just been informed a gorilla statue very similar to Gary has just been spotted on the back of a black pick-up going North bound on the M40 by Warwick Services at 9.30am today 6th April.
"We are asking if anyone happens to be going by this way to keep your eyes peeled in case it is him and we can get him back."
A road user snapped a picture of a gorilla on the back of a trailer but said he was not 'aware of the significance' of the statue when he took the photo but the owners of Reynard's have urged him to contact police.
Fans of Gary hoped the possible sighting would see his return to the garden centre.
One said: "Fantastic. Come on everyone, let's make this too hot to handle."
Another posted: "Hope he's coming home."
A third added: "Let's hope northbound means he's coming home."
Gary, who cost £3,000, had sat outside the garden centre for the last decade and had become a firm favourite among customers and locals.
Staff members regularly dressed him up in line with current affairs and the statue had PPE on throughout the pandemic and also donned a Santa hat at Christmas.
Anyone with information should call Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident number 0588 of Monday, 20 March, 2023.
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