Okehampton Town Council reported last week that one of the trees in the Fairplace sensory garden had fallen victim to vandals.

The town council said that the incident took place on the evening of August 9-10 and resulted in the China Girl tree, placed in the centre of the garden, had been so badly damaged that council workers were forced to remove the “little that remained of the tree”.

The council added that it believes the culprits will have been captured on the adjacent CCTV camera and have passed the footage to the police to investigate.

The China Girl tree was donated to the council and planted in the sensory garden in 2021.