VANDALS have been accused of "trying to ruin Christmas" after destroying a shopping centre's Christmas decorations.

Volunteers rallied round to raise the money and give their time to put up decorations at Peacehaven's Meridian Centre- but less than four days later vandals tore them down.

Town officials said they had suffered weeks of abuse from antisocial teenagers.

Police said they were also investigating reports of teenagers using abusive behaviour towards staff at Co-op in the centre, swearing and throwing ice cream.

Peacehaven Town Council's civic marketing officer Deborah Donovan said: "After weeks of a targeted campaign by unruly kids running riot in the shopping centre, the final straw came when they tried to ruin Christmas for everyone.

"Officers of the council and volunteers spent hours decorating the centre for residents to enjoy, at their own cost and in their own time.

"Then on Monday the teenagers, who often hang around in the centre, causing chaos and being generally unruly, chose to rip down the decorations in the main mall.

“After weeks of being bullied by these antisocial young people, we have had enough. They have been rude, noisy, and abusive, they have scared our older and more vulnerable residents and now they’re ripping down the Christmas decorations generously donated by the community.

"They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it any more”

CCTV of the incident is being reviewed and the vandalism has been reported to the police.

The council has vowed to ensure the culprits apologise and make amends.

Ms Donovan added: "Last week the community pulled together, to make Christmas really special for the residents of the town.

"We have tidied up a bit but we don’t have any decorations left to replace those that were pulled down."