A CHURCH warden today blasted vandals who knocked down 40 gravestones at an East Lancashire cemetery.

The attack has stunned officials at St Leonard's Church, Old Langho, who made the grim discovery at the burial ground on Sunday.

John Lambourn, church warden, said the incident may have been a sick Hallowe'en prank.

He said: "It is very distressing for those who have loved ones buried here. "Why on earth should anybody want to go around knocking down gravestones?"

Mr Lambourn said initial reports had indicated that the first of the gravestones were pushed over last Thursday. But he said: "On Sunday we found that about 40 gravestones had been knocked over so they must have been pushed over during the weekend.

"It was quite a shock to make the discovery. The headstones are too heavy to simply lift and put back."

The Blackburn diocese and the local parish council have both been informed about the incident.

Martyn Halsall, press and communications officer for the Blackburn diocese, said: "Incidents like these are extremely regrettable because of the emotional hurt they cause relatives.

"They are also potentially dangerous because stones which have not been pushed over, but only loosened, could fall on children."

"In some cases youngsters have been banned from entering churchyards in case gravestones fall on them."

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