VANDALS have failed to break the spirit of a gardener after wrecking his award-winning display.

Carl Gippert left for an overnight camping trip at the end of last week, fresh from winning first place in the Green Corridor Bloomers garden competition.

But Mr Gippert returned home to his council-owned home at Mendip Terrace, South Stanley, to find plants ripped up, ornaments smashed and a rose arch destroyed.

Mr Gippert, 51, said: "It took me four years to get the garden looking like it was. Some of the species of plants that have been killed were very rare and it will be difficult to get hold of them."

Mr Gippert said it was not the first time his garden has been sabotaged. On previous occasions he has returned home to find weedkiller thrown across his garden.

He said: "We wanted to go camping again, but now I don't think it's worth going away, because you don't know what you're going to come back to. Having said that, I'm determined not to give up on gardening."

Anyone who has any information should contact Stanley police on (01207) 232 144.