Vandalism: beach hut owner condemns attacks

Caroline Rispoli, of Cooden Drive, visits a family-owned beach hut at the Galley Hill end of De La Warr Parade.

The first damage occured earlier this year during a spate of arson attacks on beach huts resulting in twelve being destroyed in the period from April to July.

A further 15 huts were targeted near Pages Avenue in July, when a robber went down the line of huts, breaking locks and stealing property.

Caroline, whose mother, Christine Steane owns the hut with Caroline's uncle, John Anderson, said: "Someone yanked off the doors and built a bonfire inside. They destroyed everything."

Chairs, tables, flipflops, buckets and spades were among the possessions lost, but the undeterred family rebuilt the hut, scrubbing the soot from the walls and repainting the plastic cladding.

Two weeks ago, stone-throwing vandals knocked around 15 holes in the front and sides of the hut, causing around 200 worth of damage.

Caroline said: "It's like they decided to take potshots at it. We'd just finished repainting. It's covered in a plastic tongue and groove cladding, they've thrown boulders at it which have gone right through.

"One door's got about 11 holes in it."

Last week, the edging around the door was prised up as a robber tried to force open the lock. The family are frustrated and cannot understand why their hut was singled out in three seemingly unrelated incidents.

Caroline said: "We've had the beach hut for more than 40 years. We've lost things in the past to the elements, but this is ridiculous.

"No sooner had I phoned up my mother about the holes in the cladding, someone completely different had stripped all the edging off the doors to prise them open.

"You make an effort to keep the beach looking good, and then this happens."