YOBS went on a wrecking spree ripping out gravestones at a Bolton church.

The hooligans overturned about 30 headstones at St Michael's Church, Great Lever, pushing several from the ground and smashing others.

The late-night outrage was the latest attack on the site, which is the final resting place for hundreds of Bolton residents.

David Sandiford, who found his dad's tombstone overturned, told the BEN that hooligans had regularly targeted the graveyard, situated behind the Greyhound pub off Manchester Road. He stormed: "When I saw the damage it felt as if my heart had been ripped out. My dad worked hard all his life and also suffered a lot with ill health as he got older.

"He deserved better than this. If I ever catch these idiots I will kill them. I'd be prepared to go to prison because I feel so strongly about this."

David and twin brother Arthur, both 47, found the devastation on Sunday when they arrived to lay flowers at dad Charles' grave, which is also the resting place of two aunts.

Their father's marble granite stone, worth more than £1,000, had been ripped from metal posts in the earth and left on the ground. Arthur, of Hadleigh Close, Astley Bridge, who visits the graveyard every week to pay his respects, said the yobs did not realise the hurt and cost they inflicted on families.

"My dad will be turning in his grave," he said. "It's tragic to see what they did to his memory. I just don't know what goes on in these people's minds. They must be sick. Everyone affected here will now also have to pay out for repairs and it can be a costly business. "

Vandals have also daubed graffiti on a door of the church.

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