Flower vandals in wrecking spree at Melksham (From Wiltshire Times)

Flower vandals in wrecking spree at Melksham

9:00am Friday 30th July 2010

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Melksham suffered a spate of vandalism throughout the town over the course of Sunday night, with flowerbeds and gardens attacked.

Vandals ripped up flowers, tore down trees, damaged containers and overturned bins in the seemingly random rampage, which occured some time between 11pm and 3am.

The trail of destruction ran from Melksham Market Place, down the High Street, along Lowbourne, Union Street and then down Bank Street, although it is not yet known from which direction the culprit or culprits travelled.

The majority of the damage was to flower beds and garden areas maintained by Melksham Town Council.

Town caretaker Tony Baldwin, said: “It’s devastating. They take quite a lot of looking after and we’re quite dedicated to do as much as we can. It’s so pointless, a lot of people get a lot of pleasure from the plants. It’s not only the cost in terms of money and time, it’s taking part of the town away. People are so angry. It’s systematic vandalism.”

Mr Baldwin, who has been the town’s caretaker for six years, estimates the cost of the damage and the time it will take to repair will cost Melksham Town Council around £200. Many of the plants have now been replanted and Mr Baldwin is hoping that they will survive.

He added that this kind of incident was rare in Melksham. “Generally speaking the people in Melksham are very good as far as plants are concerned. We get very little vandalism. You get the occasional person who has come out of the pub and sat on some flowers, but that’s to be expected. This is 100 times worse than we’ve ever had, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

The Kings Arms in the Market Place had trees ripped up in the courtyard.

Landlord Brian Styles said: “Of course we’re disappointed. It’s part of life in this trade sometimes. We’d rather it didn’t happen but what can you do?”

PC Kevin Harmsworth, from Melksham Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Our investigation is ongoing, we are assessing local CCTV and following other lines of inquiry. There is obviously an impact on the local community and it is important we deal with that.”

Anyone with information should contact the NPT on 0845 408 7000 or email melkshamtownnpt@wilthsire.pnn.police.uk.

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