A COMMUNITY space off Four Mills Lane in Crediton has been broken into and vandalised.

Several new art installations at “Four for All”, which belongs to community interest company The Turning Tides Project, have been destroyed.

Pieces of furniture including solid wood tables were found thrown over a fence, and racist graffiti in the form of a swastika was also discovered.

“Four for All is meant to be a space open to everyone, so the fact that people feel the need to break in and destroy that is just really disrespectful and really unpleasant,” Senior Project Manager at The Turning Tides Project Dominic Palfreman said.

“One of the art installations, the dragon, has been ripped apart and thrown everywhere. Almost ironically, [it] was made out of upcycled and recycled scrap materials.

“One of the other things that's been destroyed, a small fairy village, was only put there last week.

“All the components to that were handcrafted. It was kind of a reimagining of something magical that you can find hidden away with a small miniature watermill that functions and things like that.

"There is no benefit to trashing the space. It's an open space for people to enjoy.”

The Turning Tides Project helps people with learning disabilities and autism have “equal access to music, the arts and life”.

It offers one-to-one and shared support services, creative sessions, events catering and has run the Crediton Station Tea Rooms since 2018.

The community interest company took over the Four for All space in 2020 and has been using it to grow vegetables for the tea rooms, outdoor crafting, music and events.

It is not certain when the area was vandalised. If you saw what happened or know anything about the incident, contact police online or by telephoning 101 quoting crime reference 50250326291.