Gary the Gorilla was pinched from Reynard Garden Centre in Carluke, South Lanarkshire, last March.

Now, one year on, a section of the 8ft fibreglass ornament has been found under bushes in a layby on the A92 between Dundee and Arbroath.

The discovery was made by a team from road maintenance firm BEAR Scotland - who said they were "shocked to see a gorilla's bum" staring them in the face.

However, Gary is missing his front half - as the statue appears to have been sawn in two.

Owner Andrew Scott, from the garden centre, told Sky News he was "really disappointed" only half the ornament had been recovered, but hopes the rest of Gary can be found.

He said: "I've just been to Tesco to buy some Gorilla Glue in the hope that we get the other half back - we can stick him back together."

'Somebody will know something'

Mr Scott said the discovery will hopefully spark another search, but he believes the ornament is now in someone's house.

He said: "Where was he? How long was he hidden? He can fit through a door now. He would have been too fat before.

"I reckon he'll be in some little garden room or somewhere a few select people know.

"Somebody will know something, but they've obviously kept it quiet a year. And there must be more than one person involved anyway when they've cut it in such a nice, tidy manner.

"I don't understand why they would want to fly-tip it and not break it up and put it in a bin. They could have hid the story dead easy, but now have reignited my hopes for finding him again."

Mr Scott said Gary had been a fixture at the garden centre for more than a decade and was used to signpost customers to the store.

The gorilla was dressed up at Christmas time and also wore a face mask during the pandemic.

The theft on 19 March 2023 triggered a big response, with members of the public urged to keep an eye out for the missing primate.

The heist was captured on CCTV, with footage showing two people arriving in a car and unbolting the statue at around 10.30pm.

Gary was later bundled into a white van for removal around two hours later.

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A few weeks after Gary's disappearance, a similar statue was spotted tied to a trailer hundreds of miles away on the M40 near Warwick.

However, it was a false sighting and was actually one of several versions made by the same manufacturer.

'Shocked to see gorilla's bum'

The trail to find Gary had gone cold until earlier this month, when BEAR Scotland staff came across the discarded back half of the statue.

Andy Moir, a member of the team that found the dumped gorilla, said: "We were out on our usual morning route inspection when we spotted something lurking in the bushes at the back of a layby.

"When we pulled in to check it out, we were pretty shocked to see a gorilla's bum staring us in the face.

"After we composed ourselves, we managed to catch the escapee in the van and take it back to the depot where we set about trying to figure out where it came from.

"A little digging online found some articles about a gorilla stolen from Carluke garden centre last year and we were able to reunite what we found of Gary with them."

Mr Scott now plans to display the half statue inside the garden centre.

He said: "I'll fix it to the wall with a sign above him saying 'Gary's back' - because it is Gary's back."