Thieves picked on the wrong man when they stole the ornamental acorns from the top of Les Quigley's gateposts.

The heavy concrete acorns were stolen from Mr Quigley's home during a night of mayhem in the leafy village of Raskelf, near Easingwold, on Saturday, August 19.

A gang of thieves made off with several gates, including a 12ft solid wood five bar gate, ornamental gate posts and even the benches from a nearby pub.

But they went a step too far when they targeted the home of Mr Quigley - the director of the Alarm Monitoring Company and AMCO Services - whose house is fitted with the very latest AMCO-monitored CCTV system with infrared cameras.

Mr Quigley said: "Despite total darkness, one of the cameras picked up a gang of seven thieves removing the two ornamental tops and taking them to a Land Rover. It was at about 1am on the Sunday when all good villagers were in bed."

He was away on business in France when the gatepost tops were stolen, and other villagers had given up hope of ever seeing their stolen possessions again.

When he returned, almost a week later, he immediately reviewed his CCTV system.

Local residents were able to identify one of the gang and notify police, who have since arrested a suspect. Mr Quigley added: "It certainly demonstrates the value of the CCTV system. The value of the goods recovered well exceeded the cost of the CCTV system.

"I had it fitted so we could use the house as a demo site - to show prospective customers how you can see who is at your gate or keep an eye on a vehicle parked outside.

"I hadn't ever imagined it would be used for something like this, but it certainly demonstrated its worth. The other victims had already written off the stolen property and couldn't believe it when I returned from France and checked the CCTV footage."

A 21-year-old man and a 23-year-old man, both local, have been arrested in connection with the alleged thefts. They have been bailed by police until October 5.

The Alarm Monitoring Company has also just installed more than 40 infrared CCTV cameras within Easingwold High School in an effort to prevent theft and vandalism.