POLICE are seeking “mindless vandals” who scrawled their names and drew a smiley face on a Georgian folly.

Rangers at Hardwick Park in Sedgefield discovered the damage to the Temple of Minerva last Saturday morning (May 23).

Police believe a group of youths used a permanent marker to deface the wall and park staff are struggling to remove the scribbles, which include the names Nial, Joe and Hegzy.

Paul Everson, operations officer at Hardwick Park, said: “It is a historic building with lime mortar which makes it much more difficult to clean.

“We have to be careful as we run the risk of causing more damage and having to re-render the wall at great expense.”

PC Keith Todd said: “Whoever is responsible went out on a Friday night with a permanent marker with the intention of causing damage.

“We have sent photographs of the damage to local schools and I am sure we will be able to identify those responsible for this mindless vandalism.”

Anyone with information should contact PC Todd on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111.