Shrewsbury Town's Greenhous Meadow hit by vandals

Vandals have spray-painted 'Wrexham FC' on one of the stands at Shrewsbury Town Football Club after attempting to break into the manager's office.

Men wearing hoodies and scarves attempted to get into Graham Turner's office at the Greenhous Meadow at about 9.30pm yesterday. But when they failed in their attempt, they resorted to spraying 'Wrexham FC' in red paint on the South stand at the ground.

They also put 'WFC' in smaller letters on the manager's door and windows.

Just 10 minutes after the incident, two cars were stopped by police close to the Welshpool island on the A5 after the club's CCTV footage was examined.

Steve Gittins, senior events officer for Shrewsbury Town, said he had witnessed the incident happening on the CCTV cameras and had called police. "There were two cars full of people – between six and eight people. But only three got out of the car," he said.

"I maintained a watch throughout on CCTV. They came around to the manager's office and tried the door, which was locked and they couldn't get in. So they spray-painted 'Wrexham FC' on the South stand in red paint. Then on the doors and windows they put 'WFC'.

"As soon as they went round there and started trying the door, I contacted the police. All of the time they were doing the graffiti-ing, I was speaking to the police control room to give them descriptions of the vehicles and the people. In less than 10 minutes, two vehicles fitting the description were stopped."

Mr Gittins said he hoped the club's 31 CCTV cameras would act as a deterrent to vandals thinking of targetting the ground.

The graffiti remained in place today, but will be removed after it has been photographed by police.

Sarah Buxton, a spokesman for West Mercia Police, said two men were arrested following the incident and were given fixed penalty notices after two cars were stopped.