Police carry out investigation to find vandals who damaged the Paddington Bench in Ashby
Ashby Police are investigating after the Paddington Bench in Market Street was vandalised.
While Paddington himself was largely undamaged, the wooden seat of the bench was broken by the culprits.
As a result, representatives of Ashby BID have removed Paddington for the moment while the bench is repaired.
The Paddington Statue will also be 'given some TLC' and some new paintwork.
BID officials hope it will not be too long before the nation's favourite bear is back where he belongs.
In the meantime, North West Leicestershire Police have posted on social media, saying: "It is with a heavy heart that we report the vandalism of the beloved Paddington Bear statue at the top of Market Street, Ashby.
"The Ashby Police Beat team and Ashby Council are actively investigating this incident.
"If you have any information that could assist in the investigation, please reach out to the beat team.
"Rest assured, Paddington Bear will return soon - You can't keep a good bear down!
"Thank you for your support and vigilance, Ashby community."
Town Centre Manager, Stuart Benson, said the bench had only been inspected the day before.
He told Ashby Nub News: "At the end of the day, it's the businesses of Ashby that have paid for Paddington. So it's all part of the BID.
"It's the whole community that's taking the hit on this.
"Everyone's taken Paddington to their taken Paddington to their hearts. It's awful to see. The people of Ashby have shown the care and love that they have for him.
"I'd just done the maintenance test on it that I have to submit every two weeks and he was fine.
"This was on Tuesday. I went and did it and submitted the survey, and then, and then yesterday, that, then this happens.
"Myself and a couple of the directors went down last night (Wednesday) to assess whether we could secure it overnight.
"We just felt that it was better and safer to remove him and then and then look in the daylight when we can see the fixings properly.
"Because it appears that they've kicked it from the lip of the bench, knocked out the fixings and bent out all the screws.
"So we're probably going to have to sort of do some work to cut off the old screws because they're bent over and they've been counter sunk and sealed.
"We'll probably have to cut those off, drill some new holes and look at some stronger fixings to secure the bench down to the mainframe, so it's the seat part that's taken the brunt.
"Paddington himself is not damaged as such, but he will need some TLC We we've got all the full paints for him. So I'll go and give him a bit of a 'pampering session' before he before he comes back into the rown.
"I'm a bit shocked that that is even possible, but it's only a piece of wood, so I guess given enough force, you are going to be able to break the planks.
"The main bench is still sitting there, because that's concreted in, yeah. It's the seat part, and Paddington himself sitting on that seat that has been removed.
Stuart confirmed that information has already been passed on to the police.
He added: "The police were unaware, and they actually caught me out. They drove past and then wondered what was going on.
"It was an officer that I know anyway. So I just had a quick chat with him and explained the situation. A police report was filed straight away."
Paddington was unveiled in Ashby last October as one of a number across the UK promoting the movie Paddington in Peru.
But this was the smallest town to get one after extensive work carried out by Ashby BID.
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