A Coalville artist is hoping to solve the mystery of the disappearance of a mural painted on a wall at the town's post office.

Tommy Goddard, based at the Coalville CAN offices, teamed up with another local artist, Kenzie, to paint the cartoon design of a postman being chased by a dog.

It featured the words: Don't worry, he doesn't bite.

But no sooner had the pair completed the work, the image was painted over, apparently by Royal Mail.

Tommy, well-known locally for his work as a graffiti artist, says he had permission to create the design at the Coalville sorting office.

Now, he hopes he can get the go-ahead to re-paint it in the same place.

Tommy told Coalville Nub News: "I did the outline and Kenzie filled the rest in, it probably took us about three years.

"We had permission from the manager of the post office, but it was obviously Royal Mail's final decision.

"My understanding was that, as long as we do a dog awareness painting as the main piece, we can do whatever else we want.

"The plan was to get a lot of other artists involved.

"But we were literally painting another design over the road at the Hermitage Cafe - I was doing a mural with RetroVandal, another Coalville artist - and a lady came up to me and said: 'Did you paint the Royal Mail building?'

Coalville artist Tommy Goddard at the offices of Coalville CAN. Photo: Coalville Nub News

"I said: 'Yes', then she said: 'Where's it gone?'.

"I told her it hadn't gone anywhere and that she must be looking in the wrong place.

"But she showed me and it'd disappeared.

"All that was left was a mess.

"But not only did we paint the wall, but we took off all the dilapidated paint that was falling off it.

"We re-conditioned the wall before we painted the wall.

"It looked nice, we painted it, but the mural disappeared two days later.

"I'm not sure when they did it, I saw it at 9am that morning, but by 1.30pm, it'd gone.

"They were taking it off while I was painting over the road.

"The decent thing would've been to come over and ask us as we were close by."

Tommy says the design attracted a positive reaction on social media - with many people calling for its return.

He added: "It was a bit of humour and brightened the area up.

"Someone said on Facebook that it was a good thing while we're going through uncertain times - and it made them chuckle while they were waiting at the traffic lights.

"Kenzie came up to the 'he doesn't bite' comment, because that's what people always say.

"I say it to my postman.

"It's an awkward one because I enjoyed painting it.

"We really grafted on the wall with chisels and hammers beforehand as well."

Coalville Nub News has contacted Royal Mail for comment.