POLICE have arrested a man in connection with the vandalism of tombs in a church cemetery.

Residents of the village of Llanfoist alerted Monmouthshire Council on April 24 that damage had been to the village’s New Cemetery on Thursday evening.

Gwent Police confirmed they received a report of damage to five tombs and the church door.

A spokeswoman for the police said that an unsuccessful attempt had been made to try and gain entry to the church.

A man was arrested earlier this week but has since been released on bail.

The five graves targeted in the attack had their stone lids pulled off and smashed into pieces.

Cllr Eric Saxon said: "It looks like they used a piece of one of the slabs they smashed up to then try and break-down the door of the church. This village has no history of anti-social behaviour problems."

A Monmouthshire Council spokesman added: "We are sorry to confirm that Llanfoist cemetery was subject to vandalism late last week.

“Council officers discovered on Friday April 23 that a number of headstones and bases had been vandalised."

Cllr Saxon said: "The damaged graves are all quite old, the culprits were probably only able to damage the more aged ones.

"We are not aware of the existence of relatives but the cemetery caters for quite a large area and the graves involved are quite old. Attempts are being made to contact the family of the people interred but they may have moved away."

The chapel is no longer employed as a church but is used as a storage building.