A young mother returned home to discover builders had daubed her living room with obscene graffiti.

Emma Bambury, 26, said she felt her house had been violated when she arrived with five-year-old son Callum to find the 2ft-long graphic drawing etched into the plasterwork.

Her belongings had been piled up and dust and rubble covered the floor.

Miss Bambury had waited two years for damp treatment work to start on her Lewes District Council-owned home in Brooklyn Road, Seaford, after she noticed water seeping through her wallpaper.

Contractors were sent to assess the wall but it was not until Thursday that work finally began.

But when Miss Bambury returned home that evening to inspect the progress she was devastated to find shoes, coats and toys layered in grime and dust and a drawing depicting a sexual act etched into drying cement.

She said: "After two years of waiting, this is what I found. It's a nice little house. I work full-time and have worked hard to get here as a single mum.

"I did all the decorating myself. The company has shown absolutely no respect for my belongings."

Miss Bambury, who works at Sussex University, said when the builders returned the next day she refused to allow them in the house and called Keith Dance, principal architect at Lewes District Council, to inspect the work.

Mr Dance rang building firms in the area to find a plasterer to finish the job after Miss Bambury refused to have anything more to do with the contractors, CCR Tompkins, from Hayes, London.

He said he would have to wait until after the house was cleaned to assess any possibility of claims for damages.

The work was carried out by Lee O'Brien and Ben Mott. Mr O'Brien said he was told Emma would not be staying at the home and thought they had plenty of time to clean before she came home the next day.

Mr O'Brien admitted the drawing was juvenile but said it had not meant to offend and she would never have known it was there if she had not come back.