A MAN has been left devastated after the boat he inherited from his late friend went missing from outside his home.

Tom Pullman, 27, who lives in Kingsman Farm Road, Hullbridge, returned home on Thursday after spending two weeks in Croatia to find that a rowing boat he was intending to refurbish had been taken from the storage area.

Though not fit to be used in water, the boat was of huge sentimental value to Mr Pullman as it had once belonged to his friend, Jake Mann, who died following a long illness.

Mr Pullman said: “The fact that it wasn’t even in a usable state is incredibly frustrating, because it won’t be of any use at all.

“The only real value it has is how important it is to me sentimentally, and the fact that it’s likely to be a group of kids who have picked it up for fun and have dumped it somewhere.”

The boat was retrieved from a lake it was previously stored at last summer by Mr Pullman, and Jake’s father, who decided to pass it on to Mr Pullman because of the happy memories they had shared from a young age, and because he had space in which to store it.

He said: “I was waiting for a week of perfect weather like we’ve had over the past week to start working on the boat, making it fit to row again and painting it up. “

As he was away during the schools’ Easter holidays, Mr Pullman believes it may be a case of a group of youths passing by and taking advantage of its exposed position.

He is now appealing for information about the boat’s whereabouts.

He said: “There must be somebody out there who knows where it has ended up, even if parents or neighbours who have noticed it appearing in a garden or the side of a road.”

Mr Pullman has not reported the incident to the police but is very keen to see it returned or to find out where it was eventually left.

Anyone with information is asked to e-mail tompullman28091990@gmail.com with details of where he may be able to collect it from.