Historic paintings slashed as vandal ransacks town hall

The paintings were slashed by a vandal. Credit: ITV News Anglia

Suffolk Police are hunting a vandal who ransacked a town hall - causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Priceless, historic paintings were slashed and a fire extinguisher was let off during the break-in at Eye Town Hall.

It happened some time over the Easter weekend and police are searching for a man caught on camera climbing the scaffolding outside the building.

He then broke into an upstairs room.

Councillors say they're devastated as the building had just had a £200,000 revamp.

It is not known whether anything has been stolen.

"I was absolutely devastated, lost for words," Peter Gould from Eye Town Council told ITV News Anglia.

"There's huge emotion seeing these pictures so wantonly damaged. It's not just a knife slash - these are paintings have been ripped apart."