DISCARDED needles, empty beer cans and other rubbish have been found dumped on the site of four graves in Darwen town centre.

A councillor has hit out at the ‘mindless idiots’ responsible for the fly-tipping at the grave site, behind the former HSBC bank in The Circus.

Sunnyhurst councillor Peter Hollings said the graves, once part of an old Methodist chapel that was on the site, had also been daubed with graffiti.

The area was included in a large-scale council-organised Your Call clean-up earlier this month that saw more than 200 young primary school children from Holy Trinity litter pick in the town.

Coun Hollings said: “The graffiti has been removed from the headstones, and most of the litter removed.

“Also the police have been asked to check on the area.

“As this is an unloved part of our heritage, we need to make this scrubland more attractive to the public and less attractive to these mindless idiots.”

Coun Hollings said the land, which is owned by the council, is protected by a covenant, most likely protecting the graves.

He suggested erecting an ornate fence around the area, similar to the nearby Boer War memorial, would be ideal but costly.

He said: “I want to get the public to be more vigilant on this.

“If people are seen gathering in the area, report it to the police.

“It is very concerning that people are taking drugs in the open like they are here and it needs to be stopped.

“When we did the clean-up with children from Holy Trinity, we had to go in and remove all the needles first to make it less dangerous for them.”

Coun Hollings said there might be no remains beneath the headstones and, if that was the case, there was the potential to have them moved.