Memorials vandalism 'mindless' - police union

The vandalism of two memorials honouring Leeds police officers murdered while on duty has been condemned by the officers' union as "mindless and abhorrent".

On Saturday, black paint was daubed on a memorial to PC Ian Broadhurst, and a memorial to Sgt John Speed was defaced on Sunday.

PC Broadhurst died after being shot in the head and chest by former US marine David Bieber on Boxing Day 2003, while Sgt Speed was shot dead near Leeds Minster in 1984.

Craig Nicholls, from the West Yorkshire Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, urged the perpetrator to "hand yourself in, otherwise we will come knocking. We're very good at hide and seek and we will find you".

Mr Nicholls said: "I can only imagine how upset the family will be. It's somewhere that they can visit and see," he said.

He added that "a huge amount of people have come forward to offer their assistance, which is ever so kind and amazing".

Meanwhile, a man who tried to clean up one of the defaced memorials has said the vandalism was "shocking".

Paul Cockcroft, 58, an NHS worker from Leeds, said he saw an image of the damaged memorial to Sgt Speed on social media and wanted to do something about it.

"I was going into Leeds anyway and I knew I had some cleaning stuff in the garage," he explained.

"I thought if the paint's wet I might be able to get it off, but it needed specialist cleaning materials."

Mr Cockcroft told the BBC that a call was logged with Leeds City Council who sent an operative to clean the memorial on Kirkgate.

The memorial to PC Broadhurst had also since been cleaned.

West Yorkshire Police said it was believed that both incidents of vandalism were linked.

The force said it was alerted to the damage to PC Broadhurst's memorial on Saturday and believed it had been targeted between 18:10 GMT and 18:20 GMT.

As well as paint covering the stone, wreaths and flowers laid at the site had also been strewn about, West Yorkshire Police said.

Officers were then made aware of vandalism to Sgt Speed's memorial on Sunday morning and they believed the damage had occurred in the early hours.

The memorials were previously targeted by vandals in 2010, 2012 and 2018.

Ch Supt Steve Dodds, Leeds District Commander, said on Sunday it was "absolutely disgusting that someone would deliberately deface the memorials".

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.