THE normally sleepy town of Newnham-on-Severn is abuzz after a racy new eight-page newsletter offered a £250 reward for prosecution of thieves who raided a local delicatessen.

And the question on everyone's lips is the identity of Mike Mendez, the mystery reporter/ editor with a finger on the pulse of village life, who is unafraid of "telling it like it is".

The front page headline of issue 2 of The Tree Dweller thunders "Someone In This Village Knows Who Did It" following the raid on Bird's delicatessen in which expensive champagne, fine wine and expensive spirits disappeared.

Mendez speculates the thieves must have local knowledge of the shop, which is now run by Joan Bird, widow of Arthur Bird, following his unexpected death last year.

"They carefully picked the liquor they liked and picked the good stuff," the reporter states. "Joan estimates about £4,000 in stock has gone, for much of which she may not be able to claim.

"These b******s packed it up in bags they also stole and took it home. But which home is that? Yours? A friend's? Someone you know?

"Someone in this lovely village is nursing a little conspiracy and protecting its low-life perpetrators... Is it you that knows? And if it is are you going to remain as quiet and as wicked as your wretched and contemptible friends?"

Given The Tree Dweller has the Black Pig Bar at the Ship Inn as its editorial address we quizzed owner John Varnam and managed to get a brief interview at the watering hole with the elusive Mike Mendez after a promise not to reveal his identity.

He said that after the inspired piece of nonsense which was the first issue (nevertheless containing a smarting critique of local politics) he was glad to see The Tree Dweller taking on an existence of its own, with a regular columnist, Zion Oak O'Hare, and several genuine letters to the editor.

He said he was not out to do down the police over the raid because they laboured under political constraints not of their making.

"The main targets of The Tree Dweller are complacency, pomposity and hypocrisy," said Mendez, starting to thunder again as we retired to The Ship with John Varnam – a man who himself has a pedigree in journalism, running a London listings magazine for Sir Richard Branson (a close friend).

"I think there will be more issues. Apart from anything else it is helping to promote the pub, and that's not a bad thing," he said.

Mrs Bird has installed a new burglar alarm system and other security measures at the shop.