Visitors to the Community Orchard this week were upset to find that a bench, tables and a noticeboard had been damaged.
Local resident Helena Perry took to social media to voice her concern and share photographs of scorch marks on a wooden picnic table, as well as a pile of branches that appeared to have been ripped off trees and scorched on the ground.
According to another social media user, the burn marks are believed to have appeared on two tables between Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 September.
Second incident in a week?
The burn damage comes less than a week after a previous incident of apparent vandalism at the Orchard was reported to the police.
In the first incident, wooden slats of one of the bench seats had been broken and the community notice board vandalised. Cambridgeshire Constabulary reports these incidents as having occurred on 23 September between 10am and 3:40pm.
“Unacceptable”
Talking to HI HUB, Dan Mace of the Histon and Impington Community Orchard Project (HICOP) said: “I don’t understand the mindset of anyone who would do this. I have reported it to the police, and I keep a log of all damage. This makes me so sad. Who on earth thinks this is acceptable?”
Helena Perry agreed: “It’s difficult to imagine what the people who did this thought might happen and what they were trying to achieve! Is there some way we can have people or, better still, police dropping into the Orchard in the evening to try and discourage such mindless act of vandalism?”
Police have issued the following crime number: 35/74114/26. Anyone with any information related to the alleged incidents should contact the police quoting the crime number.
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Not at all.
The crime numbers for the recent acts of vandalism are:
35/74114/26 – damage to bench seat and notice board
35/76304/26 – burning the tables
Well it was probably carried by some teenager, probably local who was bored? But we will now all have to chip and pay for the repairs through our Council Taxes? When was the last time you saw a Policeman on foot or bicycle in Histon and Impington if ever in the last 5 years during the day or early evening?