Shock after Olympic flag stolen

The flag was a variation of the London 2012 symbol

An Olympic flag showing the symbol of the London Games in 2012 has been stolen, hours after it was raised over a Worcestershire town.

More than 1,500 people saw it unfurled in Upton-upon-Severn on Sunday as the Beijing Games ended.

One of the event organisers, Peter Webb, said he was "shattered" by the discovery early on Monday morning.

"It was obviously just lowered from the flagpole (and) taken off the rope," Mr Webb said.

'Our symbol'

"The flag represented efforts of a lot of people over a lot of time with a lot of work to organise the whole event.

"It's the London symbol of the running man, the sort of ziggy zaggy symbol, only this time it's done in red, white and blue."

Upton-upon-Severn was one of the official sites chosen to mark the handover of the games from Beijing to London.

British competitors won 19 golds in Beijing and 47 medals overall to finish fourth in the medal table - the best Olympic performance for 100 years by a Great Britain team.

Mr Webb said he hoped it was a "drunken prank" because that might lead to the return of the flag, which also included the date of the handover.

But he said he suspected it might be souvenir hunters because such flags were "pretty rare".

Asked if there were any clues, Mr Webb said: "We've no idea, but if anybody has any idea who's got it, we really, really would appreciate its return.

"It means a lot to the town. That flag was our symbol."