Thieves and vandals on town weekend spree

They struck while the attention of police was focused in Hastings on the investigation into the murder of a 16 year-old student from Qatar.

The principal target was motor vehicles. Vandals smashed the windows of parked cars. Satellite navigation systems - handily-sized and high-value - were the principal target of car thieves, though in one instance an opportunist reached into the open window of a delivery van and made off with a reversing monitor by mistake.

Vandalism included an attack on the skateboard park at Down Road.

Police were still trying this week to establish how many beach huts at De La Warr Parade and at South Cliff had been broken into and how many had been vandalised.

At the Colonnade, extensive lighting domes were again the target of vandals.

Police warned of the risk of a serious accident after vandals broke into a parked car, released the handbrake and sent it rolling downhill.

The mini crime-wave temporarily reversed the downward trend in petty crime and anti-social behaviour which had resulted from a change in police shift patterns. This had allowed maximum cover to be applied at known peak times for trouble-making.