Bricked-in prank

When Laura Bain tried to leave her house to take her four-year-old daughter to school, she literally came up against a brick wall. Practical jokers had struck at the home she shares with boyfriend David Devanna, bricking up and cementing the front door from the outside.

Mr Devanna's friends carried out the handiwork to mark his 24th birthday - as a way of getting him back for his pranks. As well as wallpapering the front window with a huge birthday message, his friends also set to work on his beloved Golf GTI. They covered the inside of the car with balloons and string, then tightly wrapped strips of Cellophane around its doors so Mr Devanna could not get in. The jokers sprayed it with foam and attached the body of a toy rabbit to its bonnet, with fake blood scattered around.

Posters of Mr Devanna, a self-employed mechanic, were put on lampposts throughout Sighthill View, where he lives. The shock - and with the lack of transport - forced the birthday boy to call off jobs he had scheduled for that day.

The father-of-three said he suspected his friends would mark his birthday in some way. He said: "My oldest daughter came running, saying: 'We can't get out the front door.' I was half asleep at the time and didn't know what she was talking about. I had to go out of the back door, then I saw my car had been done. I thought they'd do something, but I never expected my door to be bricked up. I take it that's my birthday present."

Mr Devanna added that he had his suspicions about who the main prankster was, and has pointed the finger at his friend Gregor Todd, whose car he "decorated" for his birthday. The guess was proved correct when Mr Todd admitted that he was indeed the mastermind behind the practical joke.

The 22-year-old, from Balerno, said: "I might have had something to do with it. He got shaving foam and cling film and did my car on my birthday, so this is payback. I did it at 4.30am. I had an accomplice but I'm not saying who. I thought he might take it a bit to heart, but he has not at all. It's brilliant."

But Mr Devanna is already planning his friend's next birthday surprise. He said: "I will need to go one better next time."

Miss Bain said that although she was shocked when she couldn't leave the house, she found the prank "hilarious". She said: "His friends had been talking about doing something, but I didn't think they would do anything like this. He loves that car, this is actually the longest it has sat in the drive."

The couple's neighbour Paul Stokes - who put up posters of Mr Devanna but denied any further involvement - said: "This is the most ridiculous prank I have ever seen in my life. Everybody walking past has stopped and stared, and they all think it's hilarious. Somebody went to a lot of effort to do this."