VANDALS smashed a new fence at the front of a couple’s retirement home in Wisbech, causing around �500 worth of damage.

John and Rosemary Smith had worked tirelessly for a year to create a garden they were proud of.

But just one day after the finishing touches were put to the garden at their home in Kooreman Avenue, the fence was smashed.

Mr Smith, 66, who ran a Spar shop in Tinkers Drove in the 70s and previously worked as a Formula 1 engineer, said: “This has been such a disappointing welcome to Wisbech.

“It is not just the cost of the fence that we have lost, but months of hard work.

“After 13 months of really hard graft we had managed to make the garden look really good. On Wednesday we stood back and admired our handiwork, and on Thursday we found most of it ripped and kicked down.”

The six damaged fence panels had been made by Mr Smith and his brother-in-law; they were concreted in and Mrs Smith, 62, had planted a row of flowers along the front.

Afraid that vandals might again target the fence if it was replaced, the couple are replacing the fence with a 4ft brick wall.

Mr Smith said: “After a year of back breaking work, I did not want to put up the fence just for the vandals to break it down again.”