Island village green vandalised

The village green in St Ouen was only finished about a month ago

Vandals have caused about £500 of damage to a village green in Jersey.

The offenders smashed two lighting units, damaged a central water feature and wrote offensive graffiti on a wall and in a toilet block.

The village green, opposite St Ouen's parish hall, was only completed last month.

Centenier Roy Le Bas described the vandalism as "mindless" and said stones had been used to hammer the fountain's spouts and crack ceramic boulders.

He added that graffiti of a "childish nature" had been scrawled on the village green.

Although the green is regularly patrolled by police and part of it is covered by CCTV cameras, Mr Le Bas said the parish was now considering more surveillance cameras to cover the rest.

"The St Ouen's Honorary Police are very concerned that, at the onset of the school holidays, this type of behaviour may escalate.

"They are also apprehensive that alcohol-fuelled vandalism will feature to our, and other, parishes in the island.

"Extra security coverage will feature very high on the police agenda in the near future but may drive this type of behaviour into private and public areas that may not be so covered.

"I am also concerned that many of the benches and trees that are in the village green have been donated by parishioners in memory of loved ones and should damage occur to these donations, it goes without saying that it would cause distress."

Police are appealing for information about the vandalism which happened some time between 12 and 19 July.