Mindless vandals have run rampant across the Braintree district.

Nearly a dozen cars were damaged in late night vandalism attacks while the front window of a fish and chip shop was smashed to pieces at the weekend.

In Braintree on Friday night five cars in streets off Coggeshall Road were daubed with paint in a series of incidents police say are connected.

A Ford Mondeo in Drake Gardens, a Peugeot in Wheatley Avenue and three cars in Nelson Gardens were sprayed with paint.

On the same night The Cod Father fish shop in Silver End had its front window smashed in by vandals.

About 24 hours later a Renault Clio, a Rover Metro and a Toyota Corolla in Cut Throat Lane car park, Witham, all had their headlights smashed.

A police patrol car made a routine check of the car park at 11pm on Saturday, but when they returned at 2am the damage had been done.

A spokesman for Braintree police said: "People just parked up at night and discovered the damage the next morning."

The back windscreen of a Renault 19 was smashed in Virgil Road, Witham, also on Saturday night.

On Sunday night the front windscreen of a Ford Transit van in Silver Street, Silver End, was shattered while vandals broke the rear window of a Toyota Hi-Lux in West Street, Coggeshall.

Anyone with details should call Braintree police on 01376 551312 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.