Sheerness was like a ghost town on Monday as many shops closed to mark The Queen's funeral.

Aldi's shutters remained pulled down in Millennium Way and the Tesco car park in Bridge Street was coned off.

Just yards away, floral tributes were piling up at the foot of the town's war memorial.

Some had been been placed there after being removed from the town centre after mourners taped flowers and messages to the newly-painted clock tower.

Muffled bells were rung as a mark of respect at Minster Abbey at 9am, Queenborough's Holy Trinity church at 9.45am and Eastchurch at 10.30am.

Vandals, however, struck at Queenborough destroying tributes left for the Queen.

The church staged a special service on Sunday to remember Her Majesty on Sunday followed by a minute's silence at 8pm with a candlelit vigil outside around the war memorial. But before the service town councillor and mayor Ashley Shiel discovered a trail of damage.

He said: "Some children have been in a caused damage and ripped up items people had left in memory of The Queen. It took me 34 minutes to clean up the church and it's probably going to cost us hundreds of pounds in wasted energy and repair."

CCTV footage of three youths all dressed in black has been passed to the police.

Some pubs and clubs remained open including the Royal Hotel in Sheerness Broadway and Minster Working Men's Club at Minster which provided a "small buffet" for "those wishing to give our queen a good send off".

Volunteers from Queenborough town council ensured the guildhall was open every day between 9.30am and 12.30pm and 6pm to 8pm to allow residents to sign a book of condolence.

Deputy mayor Cllr Cameron Beart said: "We also invited floral tributes to be laid at the war memorial."

The town also celebrated the wartime mine-sweeping unit HMS Wildfire with a parade the previous Sunday followed by the proclamation of The King outside the Guildhall.

Flags on the guildhall had black drapes added and the flag in the town's park flew at half mast.

Cllr Beart added: "It was a huge group effort by the town council."