An elderly vandal cut down and binned hundreds of handmade poppies created to honour the fallen - because he “didn’t like the red weeds”.

Police were contacted after the man was spotted targeting the Folkestone Poppy Project on The Leas, which sees thousands of knitted and crocheted poppies put up on railings every year.

Officers say they reviewed CCTV which “led to the identification of a man believed to have been involved”.

The man was “spoken to by the area's beat officer” but organisers say they have been devastated by the vandalism of the tributes, which are next to the Step Short Memorial Arch.

A notice placed on the railings states how the “local elderly gentleman doesn’t like them”, and is “regularly throwing away hundreds of what he calls red weeds”.

Project leader Jan McNeill says the vandalism, which happened “very early in the morning”, continued for a number of months as she first reported it to police in July.

“Every poppy is crocheted and knitted - we all put so much hard work into it,” the Cheriton resident said.

“Over a period of time the man emptied nine sections of poppies on The Leas and threw them into bins.

“Many local people get involved and we even get them sent to us from Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

“We work really hard to put this together every year so it was so devastating to see.”

Mrs McNeill says no more poppies have been removed from the site in recent weeks, and volunteers are now preparing for the Remembrance commemorations later this month.

“We started putting refurbished poppies up instead of brand new ones as it takes less time,” she added.

“We are very hopeful that we can get new poppies on without them being removed.

“A massive thank you to all the poppy makers, helpers and the support we've had from the public.”

Folkestone resident Stephen West, who regularly walks his dog on The Leas, says he is “disgusted” by the man's actions.

“Your heart goes out to these people - they worked so hard making these and fitting them all,” he said.

“People witnessed a man cutting them down and I just can't believe someone would do that.

“My grandfather was in the First and Second World Wars. He may well have stepped off from Folkestone or at least arrived at Folkestone by train.

“It’s a wicked thing to do…”

“It’s a wicked thing to do and I think it's so disrespectful.”

The Folkestone Poppy Project has been running for 11 years, but will be unable to use most of The Road of Remembrance this year following landslips in January and February.

The historic road is set to stay shut until August 2025.