VANDALS have destroyed gravestones and two chapels of rest after rampaging through a military cemetery.
The hooligans left a trail of destruction at privately-owned Ribble Valley Remembrance Park (former Calderstones Cemetery), in Mitton Road, Whalley.
Although the graves of war heroes were not targeted, headstones and graves of some of the 1,000 former Calderstones patients were overturned and smashed across the three-acre site. Debris was thrown into the fenced-off area where those who gave their lives for their country are buried.
The vandals broke into the historic chapels by smashing down the door and used bricks and wood to smash every pane of glass.
The destruction was discovered by Ribble Valley youth worker and Whalley resident, Mr Mel Diack (55). "It's just mindless vandalism and absolute sacrilege," he said. "They do not realise what they have done. We have the graves of war heroes who sacrificed their lives for this country. Is this the way they are repaid?
"The people responsible are callous. I would like to lock them up for a long time with some serious therapy or a good thrashing."
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