THE sickening trend of vandal attacks on schools continued this week as thugs felled more than 20 trees.

Vandals used a saw to destroy a small wooded area in the grounds of Rosehill Junior School, Burnley.

Staff discovered the weekend's wreckage when they arrived for work on Monday.

Headmaster Robert Pilborough said he could not believe that delinquents had been able to commit such a wanton act of destruction. He blamed the 'modern disease' of lack of respect for others and said the attack was a warning of a bleak future in which the world could be ruined by some people's disregard for nature.

Mr Pilborough told the Citizen: "I find it difficult to understand how 20-odd trees could have been sawn down without anyone else seeing or hearing anything.

"It took 12 years for them to grow to the height they were. They were planted by the children for environmental reasons.

"There seems to be no point in teaching children to be literate if there is nothing of beauty for them to write about when they grow up."

In past attacks windows have been smashed and branches have been ripped off trees, but this time the damage is irreparable.

The destruction comes just weeks after hooligans caused thousands of pounds worth of damage at another Burnley primary school, Barden Infants', by smashing 62 windows. The headteacher there said future attacks could only be prevented by taking money from the school budget to pay for security cameras.

St Hilda's High School is another to be targeted by yobs over the past few years. Governors applied for government money to install cameras after property came under repeated attack.

Mr Pilborough said Rosehill would not be deterred from future tree-planting at the school.

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