'Wafergate': Littering squirrels behind chocolate bar wrapper mystery plaguing Cheshire estate

The identity of a group of litterers who spent months blighting a housing estate with half-eaten chocolate has been revealed - as greedy squirrels with a secret stash.

Locals living in Dudley Crescent in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, became gripped by the whodunnit after hundreds of Nestlé Blue Riband bars and their wrappers appeared, over the course of three months. The saga - dubbed 'Wafergate' - was discussed daily on the estate's WhatsApp group, with theories and accusations spreading through the community.

But the mystery has finally been solved, after a local who works in a nearby caravan storage facility spotted a box of Blue Ribands inside a skip. Another resident then spotted squirrels running up a tree with wrappers - and put two and two together.

Local mum Fiona Downes, told SWNS she first noticed all of the wrappers back in September. “We live on a private estate on an ex-RAF base - it’s a very close-knit community... I was walking my children and suddenly noticed there’s loads of Blue Riband wrappers everywhere."

Ms Downes posted a picture on their WhatsApp group, asking people to please pick up their wrappers if they had been eating chocolate bars. But no one confessed, and over the following months more wrappers and half-eaten chocolate bars continued to appear.

“It became a big topic among residents. Everyone was desperate to uncover the culprit. It was a big mystery," she continued. “People were getting annoyed, thinking someone was just littering. While others thought maybe it’s the bin men. Suspicions were growing.”

All became clear in late November, when a resident spotted the skip on a site just behind the estate - with a box of Blue Ribands inside. Another resident, Natalie Clarke, managed to snap pictures of the culprits red-handed - squirrels scurrying up a tree, chocolate in mouth.

Ms Downes said they still didn't know where the neighbourhood squirrels were hiding the rest of their stash, "but there was definitely some kind of box of the chocolate bars in the skip. It only took three months to work out".

At their peak, the squirrels were getting through some 100 of the wafers a week, but the neighbourhood still didn't know when the chocolate scourge would end. “Once somebody had posted the pictures of squirrels it took the excitement away," she continued. “Then it seemed to calm down and we thought they might have finished their supply, but in the past few days lots of the wrappers have been appearing again."

It had been “a good bit of fun" for the whole community, she said, but there were still more mysteries left to solve. “We’re not sure why the chocolate was left on our property. Maybe it was an out-of-date box," Ms Downes continued.

“I'd like to know how a squirrel opens a chocolate bar. They probably won’t be able to walk now due to putting on so much weight.”