Vandals go on a rampage in Ludlow

Shopkeepers, office staff and residents in the usually quiet area around Ludlow's Church of St Laurence awoke to find windows smashed, a car damaged and a church office covered in beer after the youths left a trail of destruction in their wake after leaving a pub.

Yesterday a tweet appeared on the official Church of St Laurence Twitter profile saying: "Whoever smashed office window with a pint of beer, please leave £150 to cover the repairs."

Shaun Ward, clerk of works at the church, said the window in the church offices next to the building itself had been completely put through, leaving a big hole, on Sunday night.

He said: "It was a pint glass. It was found right across the office, it had reached the other end of the room and the office was covered in beer.

"It costs so much because the window is historic glass so we have to replace it with the same.

"Barclays Bank on nearby King Street had the same thing I believe," he said.

At Peter Meredith Optometrists, on the adjoining Church Street, a window was also put through on the same night.

Kirsten Bradley, dispensing assistant at the business, said: "It happened at 11.13pm exactly.

"I know because my partner Craig Matthews, who works at Bebb Fine Art across the road, has CCTV of them.

"You can see two girls and two boys very clearly. One boy just comes up here and takes a swing at the window.

"One of them also took a swing at Harp Lane Deli but I have talked to people there and I don't think anything was broken.

"That's when I found out that the church offices had also been hit."

She said that the CCTV footage had been handed over to the police and added that a pensioner had told her his car, which had been parked outside Hosier's Almshouses opposite the church, had also been climbed over and jumped on in the night and now had a dented roof.

"It's just not on," Miss Bradley said.

The optometrists has windows with lots of small panes and only one was broken, she said, but the breakage had left expensive glasses and sunglasses within grabbing distance of anyone walking past for a full 12 hours.

"Luckily nothing was stolen, despite it being 11.30am before it was discovered by the police and boarded up," Miss Bradley added.

"Nobody took anything, though, which I think says a lot about the people of Ludlow."

Anyone with information should call West Mercia Police on 101.