A memorial garden in Colne has been damaged by vandals.

The panels on a bench in the Colne Citadel memorial garden have been broken off by, what staff at the Citadel say, were young boys.

A staff member spotted the damage on Monday morning (March 6) after the vandalism incident took place in the late hours of Sunday evening.

The memorial garden at the Citadel is a special place where people go to honour their beloved deceased relatives, friends, or pets and should be a safe space.

However, the incident has distressed Colne residents and tainted a space that should be a quiet place for memorial.

Hayley Murphy, centre manager at Colne Citadel, said: “All of our service users are saddened that such disrespectful events have taken place.

"We provide a safe environment for people to sit and remember their love ones and this isn’t what they need to remember when they are grieving.”

After the damage was discovered, a post was shared to the Citadel’s Facebook page saying: “Very sad to come in this morning to find someone has been in the garden and damaged our property.

“Young lads were spotted in the garden. Our gardens are memorial gardens and we do have CCTV but how upsetting this is!”

Shocked residents commenting suggesting that the “lads that broke it can spend some time fixing it back up” while others echoed that the vandals’ actions are disrespectful.

A spokesperson for the police said: "The incident has been reported to us. Anyone with information is asked to call 101, quoting log 679 of March 7, 2023."