VANDALISM comes in many forms, not all them

mindless. Of course there is the wanton destruction

perpetrated by brainless thugs who cannot think of any better way of occupying their time.

And then there are the drunken yobbos who think that smashing things up on the way home from the pub is a great idea at the time and probably regret such actions when they sober up in the morning - albeit the regret never seems to reach the point where it forces them to go back and apologise for the mess they have made.

But then there are other, perhaps more worrying forms of vandalism, where repeated acts of damage are done to other people's property because of jealousy or by those who hold a grudge.

The residents of Denton Road and Margerison Road in Ben Rhydding are currently victims of the latter.

For whatever reason someone has seen fit to slash tyres and scratch car paintwork over a period of the last seven months.

And then there is the landlord of The Crown Inn in Addingham who has suffered repeated attacks of malicious damage to his lawn and prize hanging baskets.

This is a more directed form of criminal damage and is done on purpose as an act of personal animosity.

Despite the differences in forms of vandalism there is a common factor involved. None of the sad people committing such damage has the strength of character to act in public.

They must be so proud of themselves skulking around in the middle of the night in order to fulfil their malicious fantasies without any normal people around to challenge their pathetic behaviour.