A heartbroken Brighton widow burst into tears when vandals smashed a park bench dedicated to the memory of her parents.

The 84-year-old said: "It is as if my parents' gravestones have been wrecked.

"My late sister and I bought the bench - we wanted something to leave as a permanent tribute.

"It made me ill when I heard the news. I was crying so much I had to see the doctor.

"The bench has been there so long. Why do these people do such things?

"Brighton and Hove Council say they are going to replace it, but it won't be the same."

The bench sat in Queen Mother's Gardens in Pelham Square, off Trafalgar Street, for decades after the woman's mother, Minnie Welby, died at the age of 84.

Her father, Charles, who died earlier aged 77, came from Eastbourne and was a master tailor.

He made an outfit for the Mayor of Ramsgate at the Queen's Coronation in 1953, an outfit which today sits in the Ramsgate museum.

After her husband's death Mrs Welby moved to Pelham Square, close to where her daughter has lived for 50 years.

The 84-year-old daughter is too frightened of reprisals to be named and fears vandals will throw a brick through her window.

The square, she said, has become a favourite haunt for vagrants and drunks.

She said: "It was always such a peaceful place and my children and grandchildren would play there a lot.

"But in recent years it has become terrible.

"Residents have seen people having sex there, urinating, fighting and drinking - and the swearing is shocking.

"Nothing seems to be done about it and I can't remember the last time I saw a policeman there."

PC Glenn Fisk said police had taken action against law-breakers.

But he said it was a public garden and the police had no power to stop undesirables using it.

He added: "We were receiving three or four telephone complaints about the gardens every day, but over the past eight weeks the situation has improved a lot.

"Traders and residents we have spoken to said they were quite pleased with the way things have improved.

"If problems have started up again then we will look at it again."