A POPULAR home Christmas light display in St Albans has been vandalised, with the owner describing the destruction as “soul destroying”.

Denise Mansell has adorned her house in Beech Road with lights for the past 16 years and her extensive decorations have been synonymous with the festive season in the district.

She and two friends spent around two weeks putting up the lights, only to find part of them ripped down four days later on Sunday morning.

Denise said: “I do not expect everybody to like them but I do not expect mindless acts of vandalism, which in turn ruin the whole effect for those people who do appreciate them.

She has covered the hole with a different set of lights, as the original is too expensive to replace.

She added: “For their [the culprits] information a lot of time and effort is spent trying to brighten up people’s lives for a few weeks over the Christmas period, while also raising a considerable amount of money for charity.”

The festive display has helped Denise raise over �30,000 for Mount Vernon Cancer Centre over the years.

This isn’t the first time her extensive decorations have suffered at the hands of vandals.

Over the past decade her Father Christmas ornament has been stolen, one of the wise men statues has been removed and the lights have been cut.

She said: “If they don’t like them they don’t have to look at them – everyone’s got their own opinion – but why destroy?

“To everyone except them I wish a Merry Christmas.”