VANDALS who ruined a five-year-old boy's Christmas lights have been labelled 'despicable'.

This was Ryley Carver's first Christmas in Bridport and his dad Bridport Leisure Centre supervisor Adam wanted to make it extra special.

Adam was the first of the family to move to start his new job so the family weren't together properly last year.

Adam said: "I was down on my own here last Christmas. This is our first proper Christmas here.

"We try to make Christmas special every year but we couldn't last year so we wanted to make it a really special one this year."

It only took vandals a couple of days to destroy the expensive canes and inflatable Father Christmases at the family's Orchard Avenue home.

Adam said: "They broke the canes and stole some of them. I came home from the late shift at work and found them smashed and ripped out and some of them were missing. They tried to take the inflatables out because the stakes were out of the ground."

He said Ryley was very upset and didn't really understand why it had happened.

"It is a harsh lesson for him to learn at such a young age. These people are despicable. And they were expensive lights. My wife Kelly is a care worker and we don't earn the best money. We spent good money on them and to get them vandalised leaves a nasty taste in your mouth."

Since the family posted the news on Facebook there have been some nice comments from people not just in Bridport but all over Dorset, said Adam, and that has cheered them a bit.

Adam also said it wasn't just Ryley who is upset.

"We've had many people come by and take pictures, the kids here have been really excited about the lights. Now it's not going to happen any more but we won't let it spoil our Christmas."

Kelly's cousin Victoria Chilcott from Beaminster said it was very sad.

She said: "I just couldn't believe it, it's so low. It seems such a shame that someone would do this. It really did shock me.

"Ryley loves Christmas, he's just so thrilled about it. He's already had one Christmas dinner this month already. He is just devastated about it, really heart broken and just didn't understand it.

"It really confused him about why somebody would want to do this. Adam took the rest of the lights down and didn't want to put any more up but I said don't let these people ruin that boy's Christmas. It would be a shame to do that."

Neighbour Gerry Thomas added: "I cannot understand why someone would do that. It’s such a needless thing for someone to do. We were all a bit shocked as there’s quite a few of us who have got Christmas lights up. We just have to hope no-one else has to go through it."

Fellow resident Sandy Pearce said: "It’s horrible. I don’t know why anybody would want to ruin someone’s lights by doing such a nasty thing. Those lights and decorations are not cheap and Christmas can be expensive enough as it is."