Residents, commuters and councillors have been left devastated after the giant Kestrel sculpture overlooking the A120 was stolen.

The £20,000 three-quarter tonne steel and aluminium sculpture of a kestrel, which looks down from the open air amphitheatre in the Great Notley Country Park, was taken overnight between May 15 and 16 last week.

Great Notley district councillor Roger Walters said the theft was disheartening for Braintree, the district and parish councils, and for the people of Great Notley.

He said: "I'm very disappointed that this has happened. It's quite important to people.

"I cannot understand the mentality. What sort of people would do that sort of thing? I hope they are not from Braintree.

"I know there have been other sculptures stolen around the country in the last year. Whether this is part of some sort of organised gang I don't know."

Braintree District Council director Peter Crofts said: "We are extremely saddened that someone should want to steal such an iconic feature for Braintree.

"We are dealing with people who have absolutely no respect for their local community and environment. Also the scrap value of £500 -600 bears no relation to the cost.

"The council is determined to replace it."

The sculpture was commissioned in a partnership between Countryside Properties and Braintree District Council. Artist Jonathan Clark produced the work, which was installed in October 2000.

A spokesman for Essex police said they were not linking the theft to other sculpture thefts, including the theft of a bronze Henry Moore piece from a Hertfordshire museum in 2005, as they believe it was probably stolen for scrap metal.

The spokesman said: "Police found where the statue had been pulled off the base and then dragged along tracks. Despite an comprehensive area search they were unable to discover how or where the statue was taken from the point the tracks ended."

Anyone with information is asked to contact PC Jon Meachen on 01371 851632.