Teenage girl steals hunky singer's undies

Los Angeles - One Direction fans stole Liam Payne's underwear.

The 20-year-old singer was staying at Jonah's Whale Beach hotel in Sydney, Australia, when six teenage girls and an eight-year-old boy stole his red Calvin Klein boxers, which were hanging on the balcony to dry after he had spent the day surfing.

In a series of tweets the 1D hunk told his 13.5m followers: "Strangest way I've ever been woken up, When ur in bed butt naked an sum1 is trying to force open your balcony this is gunna be a strange day.

"Hmmm somebody stole my boxers I'm so embarrassed.

"So how this happened... I went in the sea in those hotel staff put them outside to dry sum1 climbed on and stole them just to set the scene (sic)"

So how this happened... I went in the sea in those hotel staff put them outside to dry sum1 climbed on and stole them just to set the scene

— Liam Payne (@Real_Liam_Payne) October 7, 2013

One of the culprits, a 13-year-old teenager, was later spotted by the band's security near Whale Beach, while she was wearing the red boxers but was shocked when they confronted her and ran away.

She explained: "It was terrifying. They (the pants) were on the balcony, then I heard someone say, 'hello', and so I jumped the fence. Liam seemed really confused.

"He didn't say anything to us directly, he just said, 'hey' and looked at us then we legged it."

Her 14-year-old accomplice, Yuki, is now worried she will be in trouble after the stunt.

She explained to Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper: "I don't want to get in trouble. I called my mum and she told me that I probably shouldn't have done it and it was a bad idea because it is against the law. But she doesn't seem too worried. None of my friends will care. Liam seems really angry."

One Direction - which includes Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson - kicked off the Australian leg of their Take Me Home world tour in September.

They were performing at Sydney's Allphones Arena last week before they head to New Zealand to take to the stage in Christchurch on 10 October.