A £500 reward has been offered for a carousel horse rustled from Bournemouth’s Pier Approach just hours after the Olympic torch relay ceremony.

Two men have been caught on CCTV making off with Rosie, a nine-year-old mare worth £1,000, at around 2.30am on Saturday.

The carousel had been returned to its usual spot by S&D Leisure workers at around 11.30pm on Friday, after being dismantled to make way for the Olympic beach party.

The thieves are seen leaving the Aruba bar, pinching Rosie from the trailer and making off to the taxi rank near Hot Rocks to wait for a black getaway car.

S&D Leisure Managing Director Stanley Reeves told the Daily Echo: “I am absolutely gutted and would offer anybody £500 for Rosie’s return.

“There is a huge gap on the carousel where Rosie should be. Our 29 other horses have lost a sister.”

The carousel team discovered the crime on Saturday morning when they arrived to put it back together.

Mr Reeves, who has reported the incident to police, said: “I trawled through the Hot Rocks CCTV with the manager.

“You see two guys come out of Aruba and go across to the carousel.

“They wait around about 30 – 40 minutes. You see them make a phone call, then all of a sudden they go over to the carousel, take the horse and run up past Hot Rocks into the bus and taxi terminal.”

Around eight taxis are parked up, Mr Reeves said, but the men wait for a black estate car, bundle in and drive up the hill. The theft comes as a blow in an already “tough summer”, he said.

“The horses are a bit of a collectors’ item,” Mr Reeves added.

“People always want them for their kids. It would cost us £1,000 to buy a new horse and contract someone to repaint it.” Dorset Police are investigating.