A YOUTH football club which was left devastated after losing thousands of pounds to fraud has been dealt another blow after the newly-refurbished clubhouse was vandalised.

Laurel Park FC lost £28,000 after the club's former treasurer was duped into making payments to people posing as club officials in April.

The funds had been intended to give the pavilion a facelift and so the community rallied with the support of Reading FC and Wickes to provide materials and labour.

However, members were left 'gutted' when they discovered all of their hard work had been ruined by vandals, who decided to spray paint the building with distinctive lettering.

Mike Bradshaw, interim chairman, said: "At the moment we are still trying to work out what has happened.

"There appears to be a lot of spray paint on the outside of the building. I am totally gutted to be honest.

"After all that has happened this year we are disgusted that mindless vandals see fit to spend their time ruining facilities that the rest of the community have put time and money into."

Reading Chronicle:

A partnership with Reading FC and Wickes saw dozens of people come forward to offer free labour and redecorate the clubhouse at the start of August.

As well as tools and materials, Wickes provided new kit for some of the youth teams, while Reading FC captain Paul McShane was one of many players to put on decorating clothes for the project.

Mr Bradshaw added: "Thousands of pounds was spent on materials alone. We are going to see if we can get it cleaned up but we would like to be able to find out who is responsible.

"We think we are making some headway, but we need to wait to hear from the police before we can speculate.

"If you have any information who could be responsible we would very much appreciate you sharing it with us."

Thames Valley Police have been approached for comment.