MINDLESS vandals have gone on a window smashing spree at a Chorley church.

They targeted All Saints, in Moor Road, on three separate occasions this week.

In the first incident a youth was seen running away by a pensioner from Hodder Avenue on Monday night after one window was smashed at the rear of the church. The 67-year-old, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said: "I jumped in the car and went after him but the next thing I knew there were 12 of them and I wasn't going to tackle them at my age."

Then the following morning the church warden discovered that five windows had been smashed between 7.30am and 8am.

Later that morning the building's alarm went off at about 10.30am when another window was smashed.

All three incidents were reported to police.

Chorley Police said a 14-year-old youth from Coppull was arrested in connection with the damage at 4.20pm on Tuesday, July 10. No charges had been made at the time of going to press and officers were continuing with their inquiries.