HEARTLESS vandals have badly damaged a Bournemouth beach hut used by desperately sick children as a holiday retreat.

The thugs struck on Friday night, prising dozens of wooden slats off the side of the hut in Alum Chine, which one beach hut owner said were set alight underneath a set of deckchairs chained together on the seafront.

The beach hut is rented from the council by the Youth Cancer Trust, which runs a house in nearby Studland Road where teenagers and young adults can spend holidays in a parent-free environment.

Vandals attacked the same hut just two months ago when they smashed the windows with bricks and stove in the door with a concrete block.

Furious co-founder of the YTC Brenda Clark said a group of seven 14 to 16-year-olds are staying with the trust in Bournemouth this week, and the damage would not stop them from using the beach hut.

"I just can't believe it," she said. "I'm amazed. It's just beyond words that vandals can go down and do something like this and get away with it.

"A lot of these kids have been in hospital and the whole idea is that they can come down and sit by the sea and enjoy all the benefits of a nice seaside holiday."

Grandmother-of-four Judy Burnell, 59, whose family have rented a council beach hut for the summer, which was also damaged in the attack, called for improved security on the seafront and urged the council to restore the seafront's CCTV network.

A spokesman for the council said: "Again we're saddened by these acts of vandalism carried out on our seafront and our night patrol officers are working alongside the police to catch those involved.

"In order to maintain security we have officers who work through the night patrolling the seafront. In the past several weeks we have managed to apprehend some of the arsonists and pass them on to the police.

"On this occasion temporary repairs were made so that the hut could still be used and fixed repairs are to be carried out today."

First published: August 31