UNHOLY incidents have taken place at St Mary s Church, Baldock, as two vandalism attacks have been made on the ancient building. Between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning two small panes of glass were smashed at the church. On Sunday evening vandals s

UNHOLY incidents have taken place at St Mary's Church, Baldock, as two vandalism attacks have been made on the ancient building.

Between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning two small panes of glass were smashed at the church.

On Sunday evening vandals struck again but this time six panes were shattered and a hole was made through a special memorial on the glass.

The memorial was replaced 150 years ago when an inscription was given in recognition of a donor to the church.

The remains of the Sunday attack were found just before a funeral on Monday and had to be hurriedly cleared. Glass in the font also has to be removed before the next baptism can take place.

Church warden Mick Camp said: "It's the concern that somebody would do this to an ancient building. It's 700 years old and has stood the test of time until somebody starts throwing stones. Our concern is that it's not repeated and we want people to look out for any more incidents."

There has also been vandalism at the allotments off Wallington Road. The value of the damage has been put at around £1,000.

Twenty plots were affected with tools and fruit cages broken, frames and nets ruined and sheds broken into and destroyed.

Mr Camp, who is also the allotment association chairman, said: "We have been told that police patrols are being stepped up and we are doing everything we can to prevent it from happening again and urging everyone to report anything suspicious."

Baldock policeman Steve Gibbs said: "We have positive leads in terms of the damage to the church. We are also going to aggressively patrol the allotment area and anybody caught damaging it will be prosecuted."

The attacks on the church and allotments follow spates of vandalism on roads around the park in Park Drive.

Valerie Wilkins, of Mansfield Road, said that there had been no damage since The Comet covered the vandalism.

She said: "On Friday night there were around 70 to 100 youths in the park, but I haven't heard of any damage in recent weeks. However, this could also be due to the amount of police presence around here now."

Pc Gibbs said: "I arrested one individual last week as part of the operation and we are still waiting for some more CCTV camera footage, so there may be others.