Mystery of the missing monk

Trevor Rooney, who runs the Ghost Tour of York in the city, built and painted two of the plywood and concrete monks himself, as a way of advertising his business, and as a meeting point for his customers.

One of the four-foot tall ghostly monks was placed outside the Evil Eye Lounge in Stonegate on Monday afternoon, tucked against the wall so it did not breach the council’s new A-board ban, but when he arrived for his tour on Tuesday evening, he discovered the monk had gone missing.

Mr Rooney said: “It’s so frustrating when you go out of your way to produce something a little more different and artistic for the street to advertise the ghost walk. Whoever took this must have been pretty determined to walk about with such a dead weight under their arm. I’m hopefully presuming that it may have just been put down and left somewhere after they took it. It may have been a prank but it not a funny one since I consider it to be a work of art and as an artist, sculptor, I feel that it’s such a terrible thing to do.” The second monk remains in its location further up Stonegate, as it has been chained to a drainpipe, and Mr Rooney said he has spoken to police about the theft, who have taken the theft seriously, but laughed at “the mystery of the missing monk”.

He said he would not press charges if the monk was returned to him. Anyone with information can contact police on 101or email Mr Rooney directly at chasingautum@outlook.com