Pensioner staying up until 4am to guard plant pots after repeated thefts

• Watch Robert Murphy's report

A pensioner says she is staying up until 4am to guard her beloved flowers after repeated thefts from her home.

Retired nurse Della Bailey, 71, has been growing her beloved flowers in her front garden in Easton, Bristol, for decades.

But thieves keep targeting a Bristol pensioner's garden after her security system failed, she says.

After a spate of thefts in 2013 - which included a pot containing a loved-one's ashes - she installed a security system.

But the system broke recently and the thieves have returned.

Della said: "When people come down the street they say 'I love your garden'. One lady said to me 'I pass it every day to look at your flowers and get some peace'."

But Della says she was left devastated following the theft of a hanging basket last Thursday.

"I nearly collapsed when I saw that," Della said. "Tears came down my eyes and my neighbour hugged me."

Neighbour Steve Bloss told ITV News: "It's just a shame that someone thinks that's something that's okay to do. It's not. She takes the effort to keep a display and her house looking as nice as that. So it's just a shame. It's not the first time it's happened."

Now, she sits by her bedroom window and watches until 4am most mornings to guard her flowers.

Della's garden features fuchsia, trailing geraniums, petunias and begonias. She also makes displays for her neighbour's gardens. But Della says the thefts make her feel unsafe.

She said: "It's an invasion of my privacy. Sometimes I think there'll be a knock on the door and they'll take me next."