ALLOTMENT holders have suffered smashed sheds and the loss of hundreds-of-pounds worth of plants.

Sheppey Horticultural Society has just experienced one of the worst waves of vandalism and theft at its Nursery Close site in Sheerness, despite spending £6,000 to protect it.

Members had hoped installing wire mesh fencing, looped barbed wire and palisade gates would deter intruders but Y-cutters have now been used to cut through the re-inforced defences.

Carole McGlynn said: “It’s heartbreaking to see the devastation left behind with plots trampled, plants uprooted and sheds broken into and belongings stolen."

Mary Whiteoak, 69, who lost a plum tree, said: “When I saw what had happened to my plot I could only stand there and say 'oh my God’ at the damage.”

Mrs McGlynn added: “The fence is our responsibility and it’s very expensive for a group like our to find the money for it.

“We had Bill Hodges, an 80-year-old man with a replacement hip, digging post holes to put the fence in but still it’s not enough to stop the thieves.

“And they take more than they can carry, dropping it in the ditch running along the side of us. If they were stealing because they were hungry, we’d give them the produce.”

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK'S SHEERNESS TIMES GUARDIAN