Vandals have struck at an Angus cemetery — pushing over gravestones which are hundreds of years old.
The memorials were targeted sometime between 10pm on Wednesday and Thursday morning.
Session clerk at St Vigeans Church, near Arbroath, Margaret Pullar, said everyone connected with the church was devastated by the “pointless” vandalism.
She said: “I wish the people who carry out pointless acts of vandalism like this would realise that someone is buried under these gravestones.
“The gravestones may be hundreds of years old in some cases — they could even belong to the vandals’ grand- parents or great grandparents.”
Margaret said a concert had been held at the church on Wednesday evening.
It was empty by 10pm and everything had seemed fine.
She said: “When some of us went back to the church around 10am the damage had been done.”
Mrs Pullar said three gravestones had been pushed completely out of the ground and left on the path.
She said: “We laid the gravestones back into place but obviously they aren’t going to be safe now.
“We’ve reported the matter to Angus Council, which owns the cemetery.
“This is even all the more upsetting because a local group had been spending a lot of time working to tidy up St Vigeans and keep it looking neat and tidy.
“They spend time every week working and then people come and do something like this — it’s very upsetting.”
Mrs Pullar said she understood other damage had been caused in the village the same night the gravestones were vandalised.
She said: “I can’t understand why anyone would want to do stuff like this.”
Villagers have said the vandalism is “disgusting”.
Christopher Swankie said: “It’s symptomatic of a spate of vandalism that’s occurring around the town at this time of year.
“It’s disgraceful, yet becoming all too common.
“Almost always the worst of this occurs in the summer months.”