SECURITY is to be stepped up after a vandal attack and the theft of £2,000 worth of gardening equipment from Rock Road Cemetery, Spennymoor, last Wednesday night.

After cutting through chains at the cemetery gates the thieves drove over flower beds and broke into a storage shed to steal a lawnmower, a grass strimmer, a back-pack blower and a trailer.

Terry Robson, clerk for Spennymoor Town Council, which manages the site, said: "We have increased vigilance and security at all the council depots and sites to prevent this happening again."

The incident was a double blow for working supervisor Michael Foxton and Rock Road groundsman Peter Crosley.

As well as losing vital equipment, Mr Crosley will have to spend time replanting parts of the cemetery when he could be working on a memorial garden.

He said: "I designed and am now creating a memorial garden for people who want to sit in peace and think of their late friends and relatives.

"This is a real blow because we make such an effort to keep the place nice."

Councillor John Marr said: "It is sickening. Cemeteries should be a place of peace and should be respected by people without this sort of intrusion.

"Rock Road in particular is a wonderful place.

"We have been commended nationally by Northumbria in Bloom, and Joy Dunk, chairman of the National Association of Memorial Masons, visited recently and said she was impressed with the extra effort made at the site."

Anyone with information about the vandalism incident or the items of stolen property, which were all security tagged, is asked to contact Spennymoor police on (01325) 314401.