MINDLESS vandals have caused outrage after daubing the war memorial in Accrington's Oak Hill Park with blue paint.

The Cenotaph graffiti attack is the latest in a string of incidents to plague the park in recent weeks, which have also included teenagers drinking alcohol and leaving their bottles behind.

And it has led one police sergeant to pledge: "We will do our utmost to catch these disgraceful vandals."


It comes in spite of a decision taken at a special meeting of Peel and Barnfield Area Council to lock a side gate accessing the park from Hollins Lane in the evenings in a bid to stop vandalism.

It was also decided to form a Friends of Oak Hill Park group in a bid to promote better use of the facility.

Sergeant Bob Eaton, of Accrington Police, said: "Daubing paint over a war memorial is the last straw. We will do our utmost to get more regular patrols up there and officers will be briefed to take a hard line.

"As for this disgraceful vandalism, I shall be taking a personal interest in finding out who was responsible."

Sgt Eaton revealed the graffiti contained the words JT is fit by CC, Zaf and Julie C and Damo.

He said he would use this information to try to track down the perpetrators, starting by contacting local schools.

Barnfield councillor Paul Barton said: "The memorial seems to have been vandalised either last Wednesday or Thursday. They splashed blue paint over the bottom part of it, which is a despicable and terrible thing to do.

"At the recent meeting we were all in agreement about the gate being shut at night but open during the day.

"We have a lot of history in the park and when we form the group we hope it will help solve some of the problems we have been having there. I believe it can really make a difference."

Sgt Eaton concluded: "I would appeal to anyone who knows anything about this to contact me and for those responsible to make it easier on themselves by turning themselves in before we find them."

Anyone with any information about the vandalism can contact him in confidence on 353103 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.