TOWNSPEOPLE awoke last Friday to find vandals had sawed down the community's Christmas tree in the middle of the night.

But the people of Saltburn had the last laugh when workmen simply erected it again - albeit six feet shorter.

Police were planning to inspect CCTV footage in an attempt to catch the culprits.

The vandalism follows a similar attack in Loftus where the Christmas tree lights were stolen and the tree damaged. Loftus community policeman, PC Eddie O'Hara was to interview four suspects this week after making enquiries at a number of schools.

Loftus Town Council, which paid most of the costs for the town's first Christmas decorations for more than 20 years, plans to hold a meeting to discuss whether to replace the £1,000 lights.

Saltburn's tree, originally 25ft and paid for by Saltburn, Marske and New Marske Parish Council, was bought, erected and decorated at a cost of £2,500 as one of three for each of the council's communities.

Sue Preston, council secretary, said: "I understand somebody saw something suspicious at about 1am and police discovered the tree crashed to the ground a short time later. We decided to salvage the existing tree because buying and erecting a new one would have cost nearly the same as putting up three new trees in Saltburn, Marske and New Marske."

Saltburn parish councillor, Joan Guy, said: "A lot of vandalism is from very young people or people who are drunk, who you hope will either grow up or sober up. But this must have been premeditated, you certainly don't have people walking around with a handy saw in the middle of the night.

"They must be quite sick to have wanted to do this. A lot of people get a lot of pleasure from knowing the whole community gets together to provide Christmas decorations. This is very sad."

Anyone with information is asked to call Saltburn Police on (01287) 622016.