A JESUS statue, a can of Coca-Cola and a shed sounds like it could be the start of a joke.

But it is anything but amusing for a family who discovered a Romanian man had been living in their shed for a month.

Tilly Newman first became suspicious when she saw a shadowy figure in the back garden of her home late one night while she was in the kitchen getting a glass of water.

The 22-year-old thought it was probably just the lodger who lives with them at their home in The Glen, Shortlands.

Then after waking up the next morning the family was freaked out to find someone had left a 6in tall Jesus statue on their patio.

There was no note with the figurine and no clue as to who would have left such an item until a few days later during a sort out of the garden furniture in the shed.

Lying there amongst the furniture cushions they found a man who claimed not to speak much English but as he was being led out of the building he put two thumbs up, smiled and said “Nice shed”.

They now believe the statue was left as a thank you for a can of their Coke the man says he drank while staying there.

Ms Newman said: “My mum’s friend grabbed him and said ‘What are you doing?’ and he replied ‘I have got nowhere to live and I have been here for a month’.

“He was drinking a carton of orange juice and then put it in the correct recycling box and it was quite bizarre, almost as if he lived there.”

After making him a cheese sandwich they told him to leave but since then he has been back several times.

On one occasion they took him to Bromley police station where they discovered he is on bail while officers investigate an alleged public order offence.

Police told him not to go back to the home but he went back on Sunday (March 28).

Ms Newman said: “We thought we had dealt with the situation but then he came back.

“I’m not sure what he wants [and] I just could not believe he had been there for a month.

“It is not very nice and I do not like being in the house on my own now.”

The accountant says her family has increased security at their home by putting up a fence and making sure the combination lock on the shed cannot be opened easily.

She added: “I want the police to do more to stop him from coming back.

“I thought when we brought him to the police station that it would be the end of it.

“He has come back [and] we are not having it anymore.”

A Bromley police spokesman said: “We warned the man to stay away from the home when the Newman family brought him into the police station.

“But they did not want to press charges so we did not take the matter further.

“If this situation has now changed then they should contact us.”