A church in one Merseyside town has been damaged repeatedly damaged by "thoughtless" vandals.
The Our Lady of Compassion graveyard in Formby has been hit by a bout of vandalism in recent weeks. In a post on their Facebook page, the popular church on School Lane has seen its parishioners intimidated and headstones "smashed".
According to the post the area is being routinely used as a meeting place for the use of "illegal drugs" with members of the church also finding human faeces next to the graves. The police have been informed and are now making routine checks around the property.
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To combat the issue the church has now installed CCTV to combat the "thoughtless" and "despicable" behaviour. A post on Our Lady of Compassion's Facebook page read: "Parishioners affected are deeply distressed as we are sure the majority of people reading this will also be very saddened and disgusted to hear.
"Our graveyard should be a place where people can come and sit in peace, pray, and remember their loved ones. The police have been notified and will be routinely checking our grounds.
"We are also aware individuals are using the area to smoke illegal drugs and we ask them to kindly refrain from using our sacred space. Their presence is intimidating to some of our parishioners.
"High definition CCTV has been installed to monitor EVERY part of the church grounds now. Whoever is capable of such thoughtless and despicable behaviour is clearly lacking something in their lives (we are certainly blessed to know the love of God in ours). We shall therefore pray for the culprit(s) and hope that their lives are turned around."
A spokesperson for the Church said: “We are saddened that there has been anti-social behaviour and vandalism to the graveyard at Our Lady of Compassion Church in Formby. We have informed the Police of the incidents.”
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