Gardaí are investigating after a singing and dancing Santa was stolen from a butcher shop in County Meath.

The life-size Santa was taken from outside Gleeson's Butchers in Navan Shopping Centre on Monday.

CCTV footage shared online shows the motion-sensitive decoration being unplugged and taken away on Monday afternoon.

Gleeson's store manager Liam Curtis said customers are devastated the Santa is missing.

“We've had a Santa outside our front door for the last 20 years and all the kids come in,” he said.  

“There's a sensor on it, so when you're passing by the Santa sings and dances, you know, and kids get really involved in it. 

“Every year [the kids] ask me, ‘When is Santa arriving?"

Missing

The decoration was new, as the previous Gleeson’s Santa had been played with so much it had deteriorated.

The new decoration was put out for a week and a half before it went missing, Mr Curtis said.

"On Monday we were particularly busy in the shop, I saw a little bit of commotion but I thought nothing of it and about 20 minutes later, I noticed that the shop was very quiet," he said.

"Normally he's singing and you hear him, you know.

"When I went to the front to check [if he] was gone, I actually thought one of the lads had hidden him for the craic or something."

Baffling

Mr Curtis said he "couldn't believe" someone could have taken their Santa.

"I was absolutely astonished; I thought I was seeing things," he said.

"I actually went in [to the shop next door] and I said, ‘Santy is gone’ - I just couldn't believe why somebody would take Santy. 

"It just baffles me why somebody would even do that."

Mr Curtis said children with intellectual disabilities are particularly fond of the decoration. 

"There's a motion detector on it, so when a child walks up to the Santy, it picks up the child, and he starts singing straight away, and he dances, his head moves and his lip moves," he said. 

"Eight hours a day [of listening to the songs] can get a little bit much [but] when you look out and see a child or a grandparent and a child taking a selfie with him, it's well worth it."

Bring "Santy" back

Although the Gardaí are now involved, Mr Curtis said they "just want Santy back" and would not press charges if he was returned.

In regards to the theft, a Garda spokesperson said: "Gardaí at Navan are investigating the theft of a Santa ornament from a retail store in shopping centre on Monday, November 25th, 2024.

"The ornament, which was not for sale and was part of the store's Christmas display, was removed from the entrance of the store at approximately 10:30am."

Gardaí are appealing to anyone with information about the missing Santa to get in contact.  

A Gleeson's Butcher member of staff with their Santa. Image: Gleeson's Butchers.