ALLOTMENT holders have hit out after 19 sheds were broken into and one was set on fire.

Both the police and fire service were called out to the plots at the Redoubt Fort off Main Road, Harwich.

Police are carrying out a forensic examination of the scene and trying to contact allotment holders to establish what was taken.

Linda Bracknum, whose son Jon has a plot at the site, said there had been on-going problems at the site.

Ms Bracknum, 66, said: “This has been going on since the summer.

"Some bloke had a whole row of potatoes dug up and taken. Someone had carrots just pulled up and left. It is just non-stop.

“Now people have got to go and buy locks, everybody has got to go and spend money. Some people haven’t got money to spend.

“We don’t know who is doing it. I don’t know if somebody has got a vendetta. This has been going on for too long.”

A police spokesman said officers were investigating and were trying, with the council, to get in touch with all the allotment holders affected.

The fire and thefts were discovered on Monday at 7.45am.

Anyone with information can call police at Harwich on 101.