A CHURCH leader has blasted vandals who threw oil over an iconic religious monument.

Three bronze figures that make up the Dorset Martyrs monument were slathered in oil overnight – leaving a filthy black residue over the statues’ heads and bodies.

They were put up in South Walks Road in Fordington in memory of Dorset people who died for their faith in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Renowned sculptor and former Dorset resident Dame Elisabeth Frink completed the artwork in 1986.

The Rev Harold Stephens, of St Mary’s Church in Dorchester, condemned the vandalism.

He said: “Not only am I disgusted, I’m really quite upset.

“The statues have a lot of symbolic meaning for religion, not just for Catholics but for other denominations.

“The idea that someone has vandalised it is shocking.

“In Dorchester there is a community feel to the town and that monument has been there for some time. This is the first time something like this has happened to it.”

A clean-up operation was launched by Dorchester Town Council to clean the statues once the damage was spotted.

Town clerk Dennis Holmes said clean-up operatives used de-greaser to remove the oil.

He added: “It’s a great shame that someone thought that a sensible way of disposing of oil was to pour it over a monument.

“This action does nothing to enhance visitors’ impressions of Dorchester, nor does it respect the memory of those it commemorates.

“It doesn’t do any good for the tax-payer either, given the money we have had to spend clearing it up.”

Staff at nearby care home Culliford House said the crime was ‘disgraceful.’ Deputy manager Marnie Loveless said: “We always tell people about the statues as a way of finding us.

“This is disgraceful. I think the people responsible should have been made to come back and clean it up.”

Sonia Walton said: “A lot of holidaymakers come to see it, it’s quite popular.

“It’s a shame there aren’t any CCTV cameras here so that they could find the people who did it.

“It’s sad that people should do this to something that is about a piece of history.”

A passer-by branded the perpetrators ‘a bunch of idiots’.

He said: “This seems to be mindless vandalism, nothing can be gained from it.

“These people are a bunch of idiots.”

Dorchester police chief Inspector Les Fry said the crime had not been reported.