THE derelict Hardy accommodation blocks at Portland are becoming ever more dangerous.

Lack of security - there is a hole in the perimeter fencing and the front gates are unlocked - makes it easy for intruders to get in and go on a wrecking spree.

Vandals have smashed open entrances and fire doors, trashed rooms and furniture, broken most windows and glass fittings and started fires.

The prowlers have also hurled furniture out of windows, barricaded corridors, sprayed graffiti and daubed paint on walls, ripped out fittings and blocked up passageways.

Police and firefighters have warned that the lives of intruders and emergency teams officers could be at risk.

Parts of the massive complex are a rabbit warren of dark corridors and passageways which are strewn with debris as broken furniture, glass shards and ceiling panels. Other dangers include exposed lift shafts, open stairwells with no railings, dead pigeons and open safety doors allowing free access to the roof.

Intruders have ripped doors off hinges, dragged fire hoses around and tied one door shut with wires.

Community leaders have grown increasingly concerned about the deteriorating state of the complex after it was vacated by the Royal Navy in the mid-1990s.

Portland fire station manager John Stone warned that the blocks were a 'death trap' after being called to extinguish fires started by trespassing youngsters a fortnight ago.

In November Insp Tony Rudd, of West Weymouth Police, warned developers and current owners Comer Homes to tighten security or face action.

Three security barriers protect parts of the site - a ten feet high concrete wall, a steel fence with barbed wire on top and another metal fence.

But the front gates of the seven-storey complex, opposite the Boscawen Centre in Castletown, were unlocked and easily opened by lifting a bolt at ground level when the Echo went to investigate.

Intruders have also pulled back part of a mesh fence between the two blocks on the site. A worn path leads up a small bank into the site from the public footpath outside the fence, which runs up the incline.

When our reporter and photographer went to the buildings there were no alarms, guard dogs or security guards inside or outside the actual blocks or gatehouse.

And the front doors to the dilapidated quarters stood wide open, along with most fire exits and other access doors.