VANDALS who wrecked graves when they used a rural cemetery as a racetrack were condemned by a sickened community last night.

They set fire to their stolen car after it smashed into a line of headstones at Witton Park, near Bishop Auckland.

An elderly woman was seen openly weeping over the desecrated graves yesterday morning as recovery contractors arrived to collect the Daihatsu Grand Move.

It had been stolen earlier from a disabled resident from Woodhouse Close, in Bishop Auckland.

Tyre marks gouged in the turf tracked the path of the wreckers between neat rows of memorials on the far edge of the cemetery.

Alan Hughes, owner of Kemble Motors, was alerted by police just after 4am. He said: "It shocked us to see it. It is pure sacrilege. I can't believe that somebody could do this to a graveyard."

The cemetery gates are left open so that families can tend the graves of their loved ones at night.

Witton Park councillor Derek Jago, who is also lay reader at the village parish church, said that even locked gates might not have kept out the joyriders.

He said: "We will be contacting the families if they don't already know. It may be that the graves have to be reconsecrated.

"Everybody in Witton Park will condemn this wholeheartedly. It is a mindless act and it will cause a lot of distress.

"If we lock the gate they could drive right through it. People who do this have no respect for the dead.

"For this to happen this weekend, when we are remembering people who gave their lives for all our communities, is a sad reflection on how low some people will go."

Police appealed for witnesses last night. Sergeant Kevin Tuck said: "This was a despicable act. To steal a car belonging to a disabled driver is bad enough, but to drive it round a graveyard and set it on fire is heartless.

"It must be very distressing for the families."

Anyone with information should ring Bishop Auckland police on (01388) 603566 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.