“MINDLESS” yobs urinated on a church door during an escalation of vandalism and anti-social behaviour at a community centre in Bradford.

Staff at St Oswald’s Church and West End Community Centre, in Christopher Street, Little Horton, say planting beds have been wrecked, foam left on a cenotaph, and broken vodka bottles strewn around the site.

Centre manager Christine Mann said a dead cat was found dumped outside the church door on Friday..

Councillors described the culprits - said to be youths aged 15 and 16 years - as “mindless”.

Mrs Mann said: “It has been escalating over the last couple of weeks. It started with a group of youths hanging around the church and not moving on. They started to threaten members of staff in a passive aggressive way and saying nasty things to us.”

She added: “We planted wild flowers and bulbs in the garden - it was fabulous. Then we came in one morning and the bulbs we had planted had been pulled out of the ground.

“Also, someone had urinated down the church door, and there were footmarks on the door where they have kicked it.

“There was foam over the cenotaph and broken vodka bottles lying around. It is not nice.”

Mrs Mann added: “We have such a good following in this centre. It is really positive, we have 170 visits a week from people, and there are various groups going.

“It is all being spoiled by the actions of a small group of youths.

“We have reported every incident to police to get it on record. The police have been fantastic, and the Council wardens and PCSOs are really supportive. We cannot praise them enough.”

Councillor Talat Sajawal (Ind, Little Horton) said: “It is disgusting. It is just mindless - they are mindless idiots. They are causing disruption in their own areas. They are defacing facilities in their own community.”

Cllr Sajawal said that he would raise the matter at the next ward partnership meeting, and added: “We will look for some sort of prevention in the future.”

Cllr Taj Salam (Lab, Little Horton) said: “I am horrified. They do a really good job and really good community work, so if a few mindless people have got the wrong end of the stick then we need to sort it out.

“It is totally unacceptable. We are not going to tolerate this sort of thing for any of the organisations in our area.”