VANDALS have destroyed the New Forest grave of a teenager who died in a Second World War air raid.

Retired traffic warden John Green, 79, returned to New Milton to visit his sister Barbara's grave last week and was distraught to see it damaged.

Barbara was killed in a raid on New Milton as she left Matthew's cycle shop to cycle to Bournemouth. She was aged 17.

At the time Mr Green was 14 and employed as a farm hand at Golden Hill, Hordle.

He heard the German aircraft overhead and the explosions as the bombs fell, but had no idea the town centre was being hit.

Barbara's body was buried in the cemetery at the parish church of St Mary Magdalene, Old Milton.

Mr Green, who now lives in Shaftesbury, Dorset, said: "The stone is broken in half and one half missing.

"But it's the devastation of the whole cemetery. It's like a nightmare.

"They've even knocked a wall down. It's just disgusting. You don't expect it to be desecrated like that. It made me feel ill to see it. It's terrible."

The area around his sister's grave was worst affected, he said.

Rector the Rev Andrew Bailey said he had the impression the damage to Barbara Green's grave had been done "a long time ago".

"There have been some times in the past when people have damaged graves and monuments, but this hasn't happened recently," he said.

"A great deal of time and effort is spent in the churchyard keeping it tidy and in good order."

Fast food outlets and other late night shops at Old Milton were attracting youths who gathered in the churchyard, he added.

"They are the group suspected of causing the problems, which are a sad reflection of today."