An Isle of Wight woman has told the County Press she was so outraged by the sight of rubbish strewn around Shanklin's war memorial garden last week that she cleared it up herself.

Walking through the garden on Wednesday morning (August 12), she discovered empty wine bottles, an empty vodka bottle, discarded tins of macaroni cheese, unfinished packets of crisps, a takeaway container in a bag, plastic spoons and children's baseball caps.

She said: "I knew the items would be cleared by the relevant agency in due course, but I was outraged at this wanton disregard for what this area stood for.

"Whoever did this is unlikely to feel any sense of responsibility.

"I did walk around the memorial, to ensure it had not be used as a drawing board, but it was unmarked."

"We always have a self-replenishing supply of morons, but why has anti-social behaviour escalated to such an extent?"

Isle of Wight County Press:

Councillor for Sandown South, Chris Quirk, said: “The War Memorial Garden in Shanklin is looked after by Shanklin Green Towns, who do an excellent job keeping it very well presented.

"Unfortunately there are a small number of mindless morons who have no consideration for the beauty of Shanklin, leaving their litter abound for others to clear up.

"I would like to thank the majority of visitors who do use our litter bins, or take their rubbish away.”

Shanklin Town Council said it was horrified to hear about the abandoned rubbish.

Two volunteers work 'tirelessly' to maintain the area, it said, and pledged to be even more vigilant in the fight against litter louts who 'strike at random'.