Benches have been smashed and children have been playing football across graves at a cemetery.

Families visiting their loved ones or those attending remembrance services at the Deal sit were left with no where to sit after the destroyed seats had to be removed.

The Royal British Legion had placed the benches in the cemetery as a ‘charitable act’ for those who cannot stand for long.

But arm rests were broken and splinters left sticking out of the seats. Plaques were also damaged.

Padre of the Downs Branch of the Royal British Legion, John Lines, said the vandalism is a ‘sad indictment of our society’.

“It seems that respect doesn’t seem to be very high up in a lot of people’s agendas,” he said.

“As a church minister, helping people is the first criteria in life.

“There were kids playing football across the graves which shocked me.

“I look back and think, my father was a Second World War soldier and went through a lot, and for what?

"You’re frightened to say anything now.

“I’d be deeply hurt if children were playing football across my relative’s grave because to me, that’s their last resting place and it’s a place where you can go and sit to remember the good times you spent together.”

The vandalised benches have since been removed from the grounds in Hamilton Road as they pose a health and safety risk.

“They smashed all the arms and backs of the benches, there are nails sticking out the wood.

“It’s just good money wasted.”

The 83-year-old added that the group have made plans to hopefully replace the wooden benches with more sturdy “vandal proof” metal benches which will be bolted into the ground.

But, they are likely to cost in the thousands, so they are hoping to get a grant towards them.

“It’s the society we live in sadly, people don’t have a lot of respect for others,” Rev Lines said.

“It’s not nice to think people have put their money into them and they’ve been trashed.”

The two wooden benches were first put in the cemetery several years ago.

The vandalism started about a year ago and people from the community have tried to repair them.

“The more they repaired them, the more they got smashed up,” Rev Lines added.

“It seemed like a challenge for them.”

The church minister says he feels deeply saddened that this vandalism has happened and there is little consideration for the graveyard.

He added that France’s war graves are always maintained well compared to the cemeteries in England.

“Let’s face it, the society we’re in today - there isn’t a great deal of consideration for anybody. I find it quite sad.

“Graves just don’t get tended anymore and they get derelict.

“I think the kids just think it’s somewhere to play because nobody cares about it.”

Deal cemetery is home to war graves from the First and Second World War.