'Mindless' vandals destroyed wooden panelling at Chudleigh Scout hut, causing hundreds of pounds damage on Tuesday night.

It is the second time the facility – which is used by the 1st Chudleigh Scout group and Daisy Chain Pre School – has been vandalised in a matter of weeks.

Penny Johnson, manager of the Daisy Chain Pre School, was extremely angry that the hut had been targeted.

'I felt sick when I first saw the damage,' said Ms Johnson.

'I am very angry, as I feel that the vandals have violated our space.'

She said that the 14 children who use the pre school, and their parents were shocked at what had happened.

'It has affected the freedom of the children, and it has been a lot colder inside,' she said.

'Normally we have play equipment on the floor by the area that has been vandalised. We had to move all it all away and board up the hole.

'The children have been quite subdued and quite shocked, but they have taken the lead from us, and seen how we've handled the situation and have coped well.'

Luckily for the users of the hut, local builder Chris Cox came forward to repair the damage free. He sympathised as his business has also been hit by vandalism in the past.

A Scout leader from 1st Chudleigh Scouts said: 'I would like to express our thanks to Chris Cox, who dropped everything and sent some builders around to fix the damage.

'This vandalism is just unbelievable. How can the vandals justify doing this? They have no idea the amount of grief they cause.'

He added: 'We can't afford to keep repairing damage caused by vandals.

'If it carries on, I don't know what we'll do. We can't keep spending money on repairs. We simply don't have that sort of money.'

The police believe that the culprits are more than likely to be from the Chudleigh area.

'It is fair to say that this sort of damage is done by local people,' said PC Sharon Newman.

'This act of vandalism is completely irresponsible. It is a real shame because the Scout hut is part of the community.

'We would ask anyone who has any information on the incident to come forward.

'If it was a group of people who were involved in the crime, and one of them has a conscience, we would ask them to call Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111. They don't even have to leave their name,' she said.