Vandals target village sportsground in wrecking spree

Angry officials at Jubilee Fields Recreation Grounds in Newbridge Road, Billingshurst, say that the vandals have been driving onto the sportsground’s cricket pitch and churning up the turf by doing handbrake turns.

Nigel Wakefield, chairman of the Billingshurst Sports and Recreation Association, said: “It’s been going on for weeks.”

He said on one occasion the vandals had broken cricket sightscreens and had pulled covers off the wicket during heavy rain.

“They’ve been getting through a small gap onto the cricket pitch and whizzing around in a car,” he said. “It’s happened on three or four occasions over the last three or four weeks. They’ve caused any amount of grief.”

He said it would cost around £500-£600 to repair the sightscreens but that the repairs to the cricket pitch could only be counted in ‘time and effort.’

Police are now appealing for anyone with any information to contact them by calling 101. A spokesman said: “Intruders have caused much damage.”