A GRADE two listed pub has been vandalised in a series of attacks in broad daylight.

The Red Lion Inn in Marks Tey closed two years ago but it has since become the target of attacks with windows smashed and graffiti daubed inside.

Residents have said they witnessed vandals in action last Saturday with the gang returning the following day and on Monday to continue their attack.

One witness said: “My son came to me and told me, ‘Mum, I’ve just seen some boys with spray paint messing around by the pub’.”

Another said: “Some of us are really shook up. Anyone who witnessed that would be. 
“They totally smashed up the pub on a Saturday afternoon. 

“My neighbours’ garden backs on to the pub. She’s so frightened that she has installed CCTV cameras.

“If they can do that in the middle of the day, who is to say what they would do to other properties in the dead of night?

“They’re obviously not scared of the police; they ran away when the police came and then returned the next day.

“On the Saturday, the police were called and they ran away again, coming back once more on the Monday.

“If it was just some kids messing around, why would they come back the next day after the police had been there? Surely, they’d had their fun. 

“It was our local pub – many of us had drank there for some years. It’s a shame to see it in such a state now.”

Another witness said: “We first saw them on Saturday running around on the flat roof out back. 

“My husband shouted out to them to stop and they just continued. 

“I nearly cried when I saw what they had done to the place on the Saturday. I used to have work Christmas parties there. We had my parents 50th wedding anniversary there.

“We were working on the garden when we saw them bashing in the back door with a fire extinguisher.

“The next thing we saw, they were walking past with pints. They tipped their pint of beer at us in recognition. 

“They were obviously drinking the stale, two-year-old beer. They knew we were watching them but they didn’t care at all.

“We’re worried about the place going up in flames, we saw the gas had been tampered with. 

“If those boys are drunk and playing around, who knows what will happen?”

The Gazette contacted the owner of the Red Lion but he did not want to comment.

However, he did say the vandals had cut all of the CCTV wires and stolen the CCTV black box.