Vandals spray Anzac war graves with blue paint in west London

A local councillor, Jane Palmer, said she was in tears at the desecration of the graves in Harefield

The graves were sprayed with blue paint overnight on Saturday (Cllr Jane Palmer/Twitter)

Vandals have desecrated war graves at a west London cemetery for the second time in a year.

The graves belonging to Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) soldiers were spray-painted overnight on Saturday at the St Mary’s churchyard in Harefield, Hillingdon.

Local councillor, Jane Palmer, who discovered the vandalism tweeted that she had been "moved to tears" when she saw the headstones.

The graveyard, which contains 120 First World War graves from soldiers who died at the Australian Auxiliary Hospital nearby, was also attacked shortly before Anzac day in April.

Cllr Palmer told the Evening Standard: "I was moved to tears, I came from my own spiritual meeting, my Quaker meeting, because I'd seen this on social media.

"It happened before six months ago, around the centenary of Anzac commemorations.

"I have no idea why anybody would want to do anything like that to any grave.

"We work very closely with the local police, and we've been in communication ever since it happened."

Inspector Rob Bryan from Hillingdon told getwestlondon the attack was a "despicable crime" and the police were "actively hunting" those responsible.

He appealed for anyone with information to contact police on 101.