VANDALS left a mum-of-two facing a £1,000 bill by going on a paint-throwing spree in a residential street.

Niky Neal, 33, was horrified to wake up to a "trail of devastation" after vandals threw black, tar-like bitumen paint over her front door on Saturday night.

Topiary balls hanging outside Niki's house had also been ripped from the wall, smothered in coloured paint and rolled around on her neighbour's cars.

The culprits are thought to have broken into a nearby shed to steal the paint and a handsaw late on Saturday night.

Incriminating blue handprints were left dotted on a nearby wall and paint was strewn in people's front gardens in the mindless attack.

Niky's eldest daughter Isabelle, five, was the first to notice the house had been vandalised, when she spotted green paint on the front door.

The PA, whose ex-husband is in the police force, said: "I walked into the hallway with my daughter and she said, 'mummy, what's that on the door?'

"I opened the door and the mess was such a shock - I was completely speechless.

"I had to tell her someone had just walked past and dropped paint accidentally because I don't want my children to be scared of living here."

Having only moved into her house in Berechurch Hall Road in January, Niky is now planning on installing an £800 CCTV system and putting up a fence.

She will also have to fork out hundreds for a replacement door and frame and a professional cleaner, which will set her back more than £200.

The mum-of-two, who also has a three-year-old daughter, said: "It's all this extra money that annoys me - the bitumen paint has sunk into the door and frame and we can't get it off.

"Every time I walk up to my house, that's what I see. It's a constant reminder."

She added: "I am so upset and seething - it's a mixture of anger and sadness.

"The neighbours round here have been so good and I'm hoping that it's not going to happen again.

"I want these people to realise what they have done and I want whoever has done it to come and clean up their mess."

Paint pots found in Niky's front garden have been handed to police for forensic tests.

She said: "I'm hoping it's not some drunken adult.

"Someone out there has woken up with their child with paint everywhere. Someone must know who did this."