WARDENS have been forced to clean up after a serial offender who has been using a churchyard ‘like a toilet.’

The offender, who was recently caught in the act with his trousers around his ankles in broad daylight, is among a number of anti-social visitors who have been blighting the consecrated ground in recent weeks.

St John’s Church in Wellington has even been forced to remove its memorial benches, donated by families of the deceased, in a bid to deter yobs and drug users from menacing the church - including “intimidating” a female warden.

Church reverend Colin Simpson said he was worried for his colleagues, who had been confronted by loud yobs and forced to clear up excrement and needles. He said: “I don’t know what to do about it but we have someone who defecates around the back of the church. The youngsters are one issue and then there is somebody using the churchyard as a toilet.

“One of our church wardens has to clean it up with her dog poo bags - the other day they found them with their trousers around their ankles and told them to leave, but they came back three times last week.

“By the description it sounds like he was clearly incapable of making rational decisions and was heavily under the influence of drugs and or alcohol. To be honest I feel quite sorry for him.”

The Revd added he was concerned ‘intimidating’ confrontations with yobs could escalate. He said: “It’s not funny, it’s worrying. You need to be careful. My church warden who deals with this side of things is well used to it, but I certainly worry that things could escalate.

“So far we haven’t had any real violence, but they have been a bit intimidating, a bit loud. They aren’t so much a problem in the day, generally you can say hello and it is ok, but it’s later in the evening.

“There was an incident last week when one of the cars parked up here had its windscreen damaged, that was the worst so far.”

Revd Simpson added he was happy for people to enjoy the churchyard, but said they should ‘show respect.’ He said discarded needles and other rubbish were a risk for parishioners and visiting children. He said: “With the excrement, that’s somebody with a problem, and if we could help we would, but we aren’t qualified, I certainly am not.

“With the kids we expect that, it’s the way people are, the fact it’s a church doesn’t seem to register. A lot of our work is engaging with people who have difficult lives.

“We have health visitors twice a week, toddlers on Wednesdays and the elderly on Thursdays, our church is a cradle to grave service and it would be nice for people to respect that.

“It’s a worry if we have young children here, we can’t let them loose on the grounds. The churchyard is a lovely place to sit, but there are limits and there’s no problem if they respect that.”