POLICE and council officers are to meet next week in a bid to halt acts of vandalism at a cemetery.

Detective Inspector Bob Eastwood, of Accrington CID, is planning to meet Hyndburn Council's cemetery bosses following a racist attack on the Muslim section of Accrington Cemetery, Burnley Road, last week.

As a result of the attack, two headstones were overturned and one was smashed in half. Two of the headstones belonged to babies.

The police and the council have both condemned the attacks, but now they plan to meet to see if anything can be done to prevent a repeat of the crime.

Mr Eastwood said: "We are planning to meet next week to discuss the issue.

"Hopefully, we will be able to find ways of preventing the incident from occurring again

"There is no doubt in my mind that this was a racist incident motivated by narrow-minded prejudice. It is always distressing when an attack of this nature occurs and we must do all we can to prevent it from happening again."

Hyndburn's cemeteries have come under fire from vandals all year. Sites in Great Harwood and Church have also been targeted, with headstones overturned and memorial plaques defaced.

Hyndburn's cemeteries are already policed by a security firm.

The families affected by last week's vandal spree in Accrington have been informed about the desecration.

One woman, who said she was a relative of one of the babies who died, wept as she told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph: "How can anyone do this? Our baby died and it hurt our family so much. We had put it behind us but this has brought all the hurt back to the surface."

A spokesman for Hyndburn Council said: "We will do all we can to prevent this happening again.

"Unfortunately, due to its size and shape, the Accrington cemetery is very hard to police all the time."