CHRISTMAS trees worth thousands of pounds have been destroyed in an attack at a York village.

The trees belonged to Tim and Mandy Graves, whose company Contract Landscapes in Dunnington were preparing to sell them from this weekend.

The trees, which ranged in height from two feet to between 10 and 14 feet tall, were planted seven years ago, and Tim discovered yesterday that they had been attacked.

He said: "We went on Tuesday to start labelling and marking the trees up, and we've gone down this morning to start digging them up to find there are an awful lot of trees that have had their tops cut off and snapped out. It's malicious, criminal damage.

"We think it's a personal attack. This is going to set us back about £15-£20,000. Police have been down to look at it now and couldn't believe what they wee seeing, what's been done to the trees."

Tim said he and Mandy were very upset by the attack, and believed it was deliberate and targeted, rather than a random act of vandalism.

He said: "This is a family business we run. Our main income is from the landscaping but we just thought we would enter into the Christmas tree business seven years ago. This was the first year of actually cropping them and selling them. We're not insured for it, you can't for something like that. So that means the trees are an absolutely write-off, we can't recoup that.

"They have been in there for seven years why would they do it now? We've had a sign there for the last two weeks saying we will be selling them from December 5, so it's far too much of a coincidence that it's happened this week."

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed officers were investigating the incident, and urged anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area between Tuesday and Friday, or who has information which could help the investigation to contact them.

Information can be passed to police on 101, or to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.