THE leader of Ealing Council has slammed vandals who targeted a series of Muslim graves at a Southall cemetery over the weekend.

Councillor Jason Stacey has described the attack on Saturday evening, which saw 40 graves in the Muslim section of the Bridge Road cemetery wrecked, as “utterly despicable”.

He said: “It is utterly despicable that someone should break into a cemetery and desecrate graves. This incident has caused great upset, not only for the relatives of people buried there, but also for the wider community.

“Grave markers and commemorative vases in the Muslim area of the cemetery were vandalised and we are assisting police in their investigation into the incident.

“Council officers will be on site all day today clearing up the damage and returning all grave markers to their rightful place as quickly as possible.”