AN Evesham couple's wedding day was blighted by a thief who took a camcorder containing the tape of their marriage ceremony, with the mean spirited act coming just months after the bride had been mugged and left unconscious in her own home.

Liz Coulson married Andrew Pickering at Evesham register office last Saturday in an event that should have proved a happy sequel to her trauma at the end of July, when she was kicked by an intruder, despite being pregnant.

The theft of the camcorder from the wedding reception venue threw a shadow over proceedings, however, and the couple, of West Street, have appealed for the return of the video cassette of their wedding.

"It put a bit of a dampener on it," said Mr Pickering, who added: "We've still got our photographs but it's not the same, is it?"

The video camera had been left beside a table downstairs in the Vauxhall pub, where the reception was held in an upstairs room.

The camera belonged to Mr Pickering's stepfather, Robert Carter, who had recorded the noon wedding before guests went to the pub for the reception at 2pm.

Mr Pickering said he and Mr Carter went to get the camera, remembering it had been left downstairs.

"We went back downstairs within five or six minutes of realising and it was gone," said Mr Pickering, "We asked everybody in the bar but nobody saw a thing, unfortunately. Some scum took it."

The new Mrs Pickering said: "It's upsetting. It spoilt the day a bit but there's not much you can do about it."

She went on: "I didn't really know it had gone until the reception had nearly finished. Then Andrew said they couldn't find it.

"They had only left it for a few minutes." She added that apart from the theft, the rest of the wedding day had gone "really, really well".

Mrs Pickering said she hoped the thief would return the wedding cassette.

Staff at the Vauxhall told Mr Pickering and Mr Carter no-one had handed in a camcorder.

It was at the end of July that Mrs Pickering, who is due to have the couple's baby in two weeks time, tried to fend off an attacker in her home who was trying to grab her bag.

She was left unconscious and had to receive hospital treatment following the incident.