1:23pm Friday 5th September 2008
By Chris Carson
VANDALS went on a wrecking spree in and around Bridport using bricks to smash, dent and scratch ten cars.
Seven of them were attacked in St Andrew's Road, between Knightstone Rise and St Catherine's Drive.
Another vehicle was vandalised at the top of East Road and two more damaged at Burton Bradstock.
Police received the first call at 8.30am on Sunday and although vandalism to cars in the area is not a new phenomenon the number of the severity of these attacks is, they said. PC Nigel Case is investigating the incidents.
He said: "Vandalism does happen regularly here but it is usually just wing mirrors or something minor but this time the vandals, and I suspect it is more than one, have really gone to town. These are ten perfectly decent people and these yobs have just come in and wreaked havoc, then people feel vulnerable.
"This is not the news anyone wants to hear on a Sunday morning."
The cars damaged included a Land Rover Discovery parked near the King's Head pub, a Renault Espace, a Volkswagon Golf, Ford Escort, two Peugeot 106s, a Ford Ka and a Vauxhall Astra.
Damage ranged from quarter lights to complete windscreens smashed, front and rear, passenger windows cracked and huge dents in bodywork.
Police found a large quantity of bricks scattered near the damaged cars or in some cases inside the cars.
PC Case said: "The bricks look like some type of fire brick and judging by the amount we found they would have been very heavy to carry. This was not just some drunken louts causing damage on the way home from the pub."
One of the victims, who wished to remain anonymous, said the first he knew was when the police knocked on his door at 9am on Sunday to tell him his car had been vandalised. "I was a bit shocked. The side window had been broken but nothing was stolen from the car. It seems to have just been mindless, pointless vandalism.
"It was very inconvenient to get someone to come on a Sunday to fix it.
"The glass had to be sourced from Bristol and delivered to a depot the other side of Yeovil.
"We needed the car secure for the insurance and also because of the weather as we had water in the car as well.
"This sort of inconvenience was no doubt multiplied many times over.
"They used a very distinctive type of brick which looks like ones that we found in an Economy 7 heater we had taken out once, like factory furnace bricks.
"They were all down the road and one was in our car so it looked like they had come prepared, which doesn't sound like the actions of someone drunk or on drugs. I can't understand the logic of it."
The culprits are also believed to have damaged a Chrysler and Ford Ka in Shadrack Street, Burton Bradstock, around the same time.
Police are appealing for witnesses who may have seen or heard anything overnight on Saturday or in the early hours of Sunday or who may know where the bricks come from.
PC Case can be contacted on 01305 226930.
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