RESIDENTS were outraged after Tory posters were torn down and defaced.

Mystery vandals appear to have targeted several Conservative adverts in Botley and Cumnor, ripping them apart and scrawling others with red crosses.

Botley resident Jacquie Pearce-Gervis branded the graffiti ‘childish’ and ‘irritating’, noting incidents occurred overnight on Thursday in West Way.

She said: “They’ve put red crosses on the signs and pulled notices down. It should be a fair fight.”

Raymond Jones, who lives in Cumnor Hill, found campaign signs outside his house had been vandalised.

The 77-year-old said: “They have smashed them and thrown them on the ground. They sprayed others with paint.”

Cumnor Hill resident Jaya Patel said her neighbour’s board had been slashed in half while hers had been painted on.

The 53-year-old branded the incident ‘ridiculous’ and ‘shoddy’.

Marjorie White said two Tory boards had also been ripped down in Kennet Road in Abingdon.

She added: “To have somebody trample over freedom of speech is absolutely disgraceful.”

Conservative peer Olivia Bloomfield, Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist, who lives in Faringdon, said she drove down Cumnor Hill last week and was appalled by the signs.

She said: “I was totally shocked by the way posters were sprayed and torn down ­– it was just carnage.”

Another resident, who asked not to be named, added: “It’s a high level of intimidation. It’s really quite horrible.

"To stop other people [expressing their opinion] is just undemocratic.”