A SCENE of devastation greeted the warden of a Jewish graveyard in Prestwich when he arrived for work on Thursday morning.

Almost 100 gravestones at Rainsough Jewish Cemetery had been destroyed by vandals, with damage estimated at £150,000.

Many of the marble and granite memorials were kicked down, causing damage to the adjoining graves.

The broken pieces were then used as missiles and hurled at more headstones.

Police sealed off the cemetery in Butterstile Lane at 9.30am when the destruction was discovered by the cemetery sexton.

Scenes of crimes officers were called in to carry a fingertip investigation of the area as the hunt began to find the culprits

While detectives are treating the attack as racially motivated, Jewish community leaders believe it was a case of wanton vandalism.

Cemetery officials and the police have been left shocked by the large-scale desecration - the worst in the cemeterys 82-year history - which involved 96 of the 6,000 graves.

Detective Inspector Simon Collier, of Whitefield CID, who is leading the investigation, said: "It is disgusting that someone could commit a crime of such a thoughtless and disrespectful nature in a place where people come to grieve and mourn the loss of their loved ones.

"Acts like these cause great emotional distress to friends and relatives, not to mention the financial cost which clearing the cemetery and repairing the gravestones is likely to incur.

"I find it hard to believe that people could commit such a heartless offence and I would like to assure people that we will be making every effort to ensure we catch those responsible and bring them to justice."

The latest incident is the third major attack in five years. In 2000, yobs caused £100,000 worth of damage when they wrecked 100 graves and, two years ago, police arrested two 12-year-old boys in connection with the £40,000 worth of damage of around a dozen headstones.

Mr Sonny Fromson, the chairman of the Rainsough Joint Burial Board, said: "It is horrible to see such wanton vandalism. I am not sure whether it was a racially motivated attack but it could be. However, there was no daubings. I just think it was pure vandalism.

"You cannot tell if it just children but police have found lots of empty beer cans. The extent of the damage is such that it couldn't be little children."

As detectives continue house-to-house inquiries in Swarbrick Drive and Butterstile Lane, where homes overlook the cemetery, Mr Fromson appealed for the community to come forward with any information, no matter how trivial.

He said: "I would ask parents to know where their children are at night and we all hope the police can find something to catch whoever did this."

Staff at the cemetery now have the heartbreaking task of informing the relatives of the deceased whose graves were affected.

Anyone with any information about this incident is asked to call CID at Whitefield on 0161 856 8240 or call Crimestoppers, anonymously if they wish, on 0800 555 111.