The world’s biggest rabbit has been stolen from his home, prompting his heartbroken owner to offer a £1,000 reward for his safe return.

Darius, a Continental Giant rabbit who won the Guinness World Record for being the biggest of his kind, was snatched from his hutch on Saturday night. Owner Annette Edwards, 68, was devastated to discover Darius was missing from his garden enclosure at her home in Stoulton, Worcestershire, on Sunday morning.

Former Playboy model Ms Edwards pleaded on Twitter for those who took 10-year-old Darius to ‘please bring him back’, saying he is ‘too old to breed now’. West Mercia Police have now launched an investigation to find Darius, who is a staggering 4ft 3in long and weighs 2.5 stone. Ms Edwards, who has bred more than 100 rabbits, told how she fed Darius at his usual dinner time between 7.30pm and 8pm.

She then locked him up for the night. ‘I’m a very early morning person so I woke up on Sunday at 6.30 and noticed the door to his kennel was open and that’s when I went out and saw he was gone,’ she said.

‘I panicked – I felt sick and I feel even worse today than I did yesterday. ‘We had the police involved and I was just trying to get my head around it but today reality has set in. ‘There are a lot of jealous people out there who would want him to breed but he’s too old for that now and it wouldn’t be healthy for him.

‘He’s getting old and he’s on a special diet so whoever has him won’t be able to feed him the proper food he needs; his diet has changed and he won’t live long unless he’s brought back.’ Ms Edwards, who has offered a £1,000 reward to bring back Darius safely, said her daughter ‘has been in bits’ since their bunny went missing.

‘It’s just really awful to think that someone could do this. We find it wicked to stoop to that level – it’s awful,’ she added. Darius with Mia, 6, before he was stolen Darius was snatched on Saturday night Ms Edwards believes the disappearance of Darius was planned, as she explained thieves would have to cross a nearby farmer’s field to get to his hutch which is secured with bolts and locks. ‘We used to allow people to come and have a look at him and children would have pictures with him; he’s well known so there’s a lot of people that know the layout of this place,’ she explained.

‘I think the reason they didn’t take my other rabbits is because they’re too close to the dogs and the dogs would have barked which would have alerted us – Darius was an easy target.’ ‘I think there’s a good chance I’ll be reunited with him – I have to think positively because I’m so upset,’ she added.