Caernarfon,North Wales - Rampaging yobs have destroyed thousands of pounds worth of remembrance poppies in Caernarfon.

• 27 APR 2016
• BY BEN BUTLER

Poppy store in Skinner Street raided by "heartless" yobs leaving the flowers unusable 

Rampaging yobs have destroyed thousands of pounds worth of remembrance poppies in Caernarfon.

Vandals stormed the storage facility on Skinner Street and damaged thousands of the poppies, used to commemorate the war dead.

They struck sometime between last week and 10.45am today.

All the flowers are now unusable and have had to be dumped.

The raid comes as Caernarfon prepares to host the Tower of London Poppy exhibition later this year.

Keith Jones, 59, Poppy Appeal organiser for the Caernarfon area, who first started storing the poppies at the building in November last year, described the perpetrators as “heartless.”

Inside the wrecked storeroom

Keith Jones, poppy co-ordinator for Caernarfon with the ruined flowers

He said: “I was first told about this at 9pm last night but it was only at 10.30am today that I discovered the devastation.

“The perpetrators broke in through the back door of the property which they have smashed off its hinges.

“They’ve scattered the poppies all over the place and they’re totally destroyed.

“There are so many poppies on the floor, it’s like blood.

Read: CCTV caught Blaenau Ffestiniog vandal red-handed

“I’ve only had the place since November to store the poppies, which are then distributed to shops and supermarkets around the town.

“This has been going on for a while, as it looks like people have been using the building as a place to drink and take drugs.

“There are syringes and cans everywhere. “

Boxes of the flowers were tossed around storeroom

Thousands of poppies were damaged by yobs

Keith, who has raised £19,000 for the Royal British Legion, added: “These people really haven’t got a heart or any respect for those who lost their lives in war.”

North Wales Police branded the raid “despicable”.

Sergeant Rhys Gough said: “We are appealing to anybody who may have witnessed suspicious behaviour in or around Skinner Street overnight to contact us.

“This was a despicable crime whereby the poppies were destroyed in a pure act of vandalism.

“Nothing was stolen from the facility which means the offenders have done this purely out of malice.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact officers on 101, quoting reference number U060120.

see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/see-what-despicable-caernarfon-vandals-11251733