A priest is appealing for urgent police action at a church under siege from vandals and drug users.

Father Paul Brook of the Sacred Heart Church, in Old Road, Thornton, said the police failed to react when he made an emergency 999 call to them after he discovered a gang openly taking drugs in his church yard.

Father Brook said he spotted the youths walking past his kitchen window at 8.30pm but when he went to challenge the gang, made up of around seven children aged between eight and 13, he found them smoking drugs from a waterpipe.

The youngsters only walked away when Father Brook said he was going to call 999.

He said: "I couldn't believe it. They left their drugs paraphernalia lying around.

"I phoned the police and told them where the kids were and what direction they were heading in but no one turned up. It's like they're not bothered.

"It's just the final straw with all the vandalism and damage that's being caused and now the drugs. You would expect some police action to be taken."

The Telegraph & Argus revealed last October how the Roman Catholic Church had to call in private security guards to protect worshippers' cars which were being targeted by vandals during services.

The church has also suffered smashed windows and asbestos fly-tipping in its graveyard.

Inspector Sue Sanderson, of Bradford North Police, confirmed they had received a call complaining about drug users in the church yard but said that no officers had attended the premises until 11.45pm. The officers who visited the church had not spoken to Father Brook.

She said: "We are aware of the problems that Father Brook has raised regarding youths causing annoyance outside the church.

"It has been flagged up as one of our hot-spots within the division to which passing patrols pay particular attention.

"But this was only one of a number of incidents throughout the whole of the Bradford North division.

"Unfortunately the number of calls we were receiving through the late afternoon and evening meant we had a backlog of calls and by the time we had attended the incident the youths had gone."

Inspector Sanderson said Father Brook's call had been recorded as a non-urgent call because he told officers the youths had already fled.

She added: "It is the responsibility of the parents to be aware of where their kids are.

"It was 8.45pm when the incident happened and the children were relatively young - in their early teens or younger. It is local children who are causing the problem."