MORE than £1,000 worth of criminal damage has been caused to a digger parked in a field owned by the Okehampton Show.

The swing shovel, which is a small type of digger, was severely vandalised during the hours of Friday afternoon (April 7).

The 13-tonne piece of machinery was parked in a field belonging to the Okehampton Show, which is located behind All Saints Church in Okehampton. The swing shovel had all of its windows smashed, dials broken and inner seat cover ripped off.

Owners Jack and Geraldine Jury said the vandals had caused more than £1,000 worth of criminal damage.

Mr Jury had previously carried out ground works for the Okehampton Show and with permission from show officials he had left the the swing shovel parked in the field.

Mr and Mrs Jury, from Bridestowe, said they were ‘devastated’ by the incident.

‘It is heartbreaking that anyone could do such a thing,’ said Mrs Jury.

‘The hooligans have torn the swing shovel to pieces — easily causing over £1,000 worth of damage.

‘They’ve smashed the windscreens, the lights and even the dials on the inside which tell you how much diesel is left. The vandals even ripped off and stole the seat cover.

‘The swing shovel had been parked in the field since last August, we’ve done a lot of work up there and Jack put in a lot of the new roads at the show field.

‘I just think it is absolutely disgusting and so upsetting that someone could do this! We are devastated.’

Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact police on 101, quoting CR/025919/17.