Santa’s letterbox for children stolen from Coventry shop

Children use the post-box to send decorated letters to Santa and each child receives a personalised reply.

A popular "Santa's letterbox" in Coventry has been stolen and the owner has called for it to be returned.

Children use the post-box to send letters to Santa that are decorated with drawings, glitter and stickers.

Penny Johnson, who puts the letterbox outside her shop in Earlsdon every year, said it had gone last weekend.

"You'd hope that people would be a bit more thoughtful about something that's clearly important for children at Christmas," Ms Johnson said.

Ms Johnson and her colleagues started the letterbox project six years ago, placing it alongside their interior design shop's Christmas window display.

"We love Christmas, we love kids, and it's something for the community," she said.

• Listen on BBC Sounds to Penny Johnson talking about the missing letterbox

The letterbox now receives up to 50 letters per year.

Some of the children are "regulars" who use the letterbox to write to Santa every year and each child gets a personalised reply.

Penny Johnson hopes that whoever has taken the letterbox will return it.

Ms Johnson's biggest concern is that some children will not get their letter from Santa this year, because some letters will have gone missing along with the post-box.

She hopes that whoever has taken the letterbox will return it.

"It's not really worth anything to anyone other than the children," she said.