Vandals have desecrated Minster Abbey by spraying sacred monuments with tomato sauce - including daubing an obscene drawing on the carpet.

Appalled volunteers discovered the scene shortly after attackers had run riot, squirting the contents of a ketchup bottle throughout the 1,354-year-old Grade 1-listed House of God on the Isle of Sheppey.

Church warden Brenda Smith, 70, said: “It is so sad. I can’t understand why anyone would want to do this.”

She was greeted with the oversized outline of a man’s genitals and the word “Jesus” spread over the church’s carpet at the back of the building where young children often play.

Near the altar, the hoodlums had smeared the tomb of Sir Thomas Cheyne with the condiment.

There were also traces of ketchup around the altar and font following the senseless act.

Mrs Smith, of Sunnyfields Drive, Halfway, said: “I have scrubbed the carpet as much as I can but the outline is still visible. This was a totally senseless attack.”

It is not the first time the church, which is left open during the day for visitors to explore or indulge in private prayer, has been targeted.

Lights and part of its sound system have been stolen in the past.

An emergency clean-up operation was needed to get it ready for a wedding just three days later.

The attack happened in broad daylight on the afternoon of August 28.

Two teenage boys believed to be aged 14 or 15 were seen running from the back of the Union Road church by volunteers of the Minster Gatehouse Museum next door who alerted Mrs Smith. Police have been informed.

Minster Abbey vicar the Rev Tim Hall said: “This beautiful church has been used for centuries to worship God.

“When bringing your children or grandchildren on a visit here, please teach them what they are here for so the future generation will know and appreciate and come to love and value these buildings as we do.”

The Abbey Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Sexburgha was founded in 664 by Queen Sexburgha, initially as a nunnery.

The land was given to her by her son Earl Ercombert, the King of Kent.

It includes the tombs of Sir Thomas Cheyne and Robert De Shurland and the de Northwode brasses.

It is open from 10am to 3pm.

• Volunteer cleaners are needed to help at the church for a few hours a month. Call Mrs Smith on 01795 663408 for details.