Bury St Edmunds family who live on the Howard Estate express disappointment after Christmas lights cut by vandals

A Bury St Edmunds family has spoken of their disappointment after their Christmas lights were cut by vandals.

Paul Nuttall and wife Sophie, who have three children, posted to a Facebook page on Tuesday warning others on the Howard Estate after a series of similar incidents.

Paul said: “I spent two days putting the lights up and I was very proud of them.

“I stuck my head around the corner thinking ‘hang on, why aren’t they working?’ I went and had a little investigate and could see one bit had just been ripped off. About an hour later I’m outside and I see another one wasn’t working and actually saw the lads cross the road and scurry away. I could see where it had all been cut through.”

The lights, which the family have put up for the past three/four years, were a mixture of string lights and icicle lights. Paul believes the vandals deliberately went out to cut the lights with scissors. He thinks the damage is worth about £100.

“I predominantly I put these up because my children like them and it’s become a bit of a tradition over the years. It has taken the shine off it a little bit,” he added.

“I’ve always done quite a lot of lights at low level and next year I won’t do it again. I’ll just put them all at very high level so they can’t be got at.

“It has annoyed me. It’s not in the spirit of Christmas. It’s a pretty rotten thing to do to someone.

“I know quite a few people have said they won’t do their lights as they usually would.”

Bury St Edmunds Police has urged residents to report if their lights have been cut or damaged. In a post on social media, it said it was aware that a group of three teenagers have been damaging Christmas decorations in people’s gardens.

Several residents had shared to a Facebook group that their decorations had been vandalised and the community Christmas tree at the St Olaves shopping precinct will not be going ahead this year due to incidents.