VANDALS have smashed six stained glass windows at an iconic Northwich building.

Northwich Town Council staff discovered the windows of the chapel at Northwich Cemetery had been trashed over the weekend as they returned to work on Monday morning.

The incident is believed to have taken place on Saturday afternoon and the windows have since been boarded up, with replacements expected to cost thousands of pounds.

Chris Shaw, town clerk, told Monday’s Northwich Town Council meeting that the windows were ‘smashed beyond repair’ and he is assisting police officers with their enquiries.

He added: “This will be a considerable cost. They are handmade windows.

“I’m looking at [CCTV] at the moment to just identify who has done it. As soon as that is done I will hand it over to the police.”

It is the latest in a string of incidents of vandalism and anti-social behaviour across Northwich in recent months.

Town councillors condemned the vandals’ actions at Monday’s meeting.

Cllr Kevin Rimmer, mayor of Northwich, said: “This is another set of totally mindless vandalism – it is appalling.

Northwich Guardian:

The windows have since been boarded up

“Please don’t anybody come up with any of this rubbish that it is young people, or whoever it was, that are bored.

“It is bad enough vandalism happening anywhere, but somewhere like a chapel?

“It is a significant cost, it’s just totally out of order and I personally just hope that they find whoever is responsible.”

Cllr Sam Naylor echoed the mayor’s concerns, and called on the public to play their part and report anything they may have seen to police.

He said: “This is a considerable amount of damage to what is an iconic building, situated in the churchyard.

“I understand it took place on a Saturday afternoon with more than one culprit involved, and the amount of damage must have made a considerable amount of noise.

“We’ve just got to stop this because it is just not good enough and we can’t turn a blind eye to it.

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“I hope that the police will take this really seriously and that the public – if anyone either heard it or witnessed it, anybody walking around on Saturday afternoon – get in touch. It is a public duty to do so.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Cheshire Police on 101, quoting incident number ICD820580, or see the force’s website.