A woman returned home to find her house had been whitewashed by a phantom painter.

No one spotted the demon decorator at work when he struck in Tudor Rose mobile home park, a community for over-55s off the South Coast Road in Peacehaven.

Resident Mauricia Kinchett arrived home to find the majority of her cream-coloured home had changed to white.

Ms Kinchett and managers at the site investigated, unsure whether it was a practical joke, a mistake by a workman or something more sinister.

Ms Kinchett, 54, has since spent £100 repainting her home green and is calling for increased security at the complex.

She said: "Nobody heard anything or saw anything. We all feel security is lax.

"My house was a standard cream colour and then the white was applied, very badly, in three sections.

"There was enough of it to make a difference and spoil the effect.

"I left it three or four weeks to see if anybody would come back and say they painted the wrong house or something but if it had been a professional, you'd think they would have made a better job of it. It was all patchy.

"I don't know when it was done, day or night. I left early in the morning and didn't notice anything. When I came back my neighbour pointed it out.

"I couldn't believe it. Somebody came back the next day when I was out and added some more at the back.

"I didn't call the police because what could they have done? At the end of the day, it's only paint.

"But it's disheartening and worrying. You don't know if next time your home will be torched, not painted."

Her call for tighter security was backed by fellow resident Ricki Grealey, whose moped was stolen from the park last week, several weeks after the paint incident.

Miss Grealey, 66, said: "I left my moped outside overnight but it was gone in the morning. It was my only way of getting about.

"I didn't hear a thing, which is what is so worrying.

"We need a new fence or something because most people here are elderly and don't feel very secure.

"There's an open field behind me and a lot of boys come over there to ride their motorbikes.

"People climb over the gate, squeeze through the fence, come through the bushes and then just walk up here.

"We would like something to be done to make it harder for them to come in here."

Tudor Rose residential manager Anne Burley said security at the complex was tight and gave most residents peace of mind.

She said: "We have fenced quite a lot of the park but unfortunately parts of the fence have been taken down.

"But our security is very good and the theft of Miss Grealey's moped was an unfortunate one-off.

"There have been a spate of similar incidents in Peacehaven recently but the park is very secure.

"There is always a resident manager on site, there are padlocks on the gate and fencing. Residents occasionally leave the gate open but that is something we address.

"We made lots of inquiries about the painting but no one knows why it happened."