WOODEN carvings that were installed in a Blackbird Leys park were vandalised just 72 hours later.

Four sculptures of animals were installed among the trees at Spindleberry Park last Thursday, along with a new path and information boards. Two of the sculptures, a deer and a blackbird, had parts broken off by Sunday morning.

The Conservation Volunteers, who are working in Blackbird Leys to improve green spaces, bought the statues with money from project funder Wren.

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Sculptor Matt Cave with the sculpture before it was vandalised

Creator Matt Cave, 36, said: “The blackbird alone would normally cost around £1,000, but it was for the park so I did them a good deal.”

One of the visitors was six-year-old Kian Ahmed, who goes to the park every day after school on his way home to Evenlode Tower.

His mum Nikita, 26, said: “I think it’s disgusting that they’ve been broken off, it was really nice to have something extra for kids on that path.”

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The Ahmeds with the vandalised deer statue

Blackbird Leys Parish Council chairman Gordon Roper said: “They get something nice and they’re going around and spoiling it.”

City councillor Scott Seamons added: “It might just have been kids climbing on them and they snapped off.”