Vandals have caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage in Burley-in-Wharfedale in an evening of destruction.

Windows were smashed and blooms were torn out of flower beds on Friday night.

Restaurateur David Woolley was left counting the cost of the apparently motiveless vandalism after his premises Mantra came under attack for the sixth time in 19 months.

He said: "It is absolutely dreadful. It costs £500 to £600 per time - and of course the insurers are not too happy to contribute."

Mr Woolley, who has had a restaurant in the village for 14 years, said the window breaking had been a constant problem but had become worse over the last three years or so.

He said: "I don't know whether it is targeted at me but there seems to be no motive. No-one has tried to gain access to the property - it is just malicious damage."

But Mr Woolley says in previous incidents vandals had tried to remove a window at the back of his restaurant in order to get in and had also tried to jemmy a door.

He said: "They seem to think there is cash on the premises - perhaps for drug money or whatever - but we don't keep cash on the premises."

But he added that on other occasions, including the latest, the vandalism seemed totally pointless.

"It doesn't seem to be an attempt to actually break in - just to cause damage," he said. "There was quite a lot of damage done in the village last Friday night, with plants being pulled out and other windows broken.

"It is such a sorry state of affairs, it really is.

"This has happened over the years now goodness knows how many times."

Mr Woolley said he had found a stone measuring about a foot cubed at the scene of the damage.

He added: "As people have told me these kids stand across the other side of the road and literally throw bricks at the windows."

Mr Woolley said he had made complaints to the police on numerous occasions.

"The police say I am messing up their crime statistics," he said.

"Whenever I have reported it they have increased their vigilance - but there is no pattern to it. The last time it happened was about four months ago."

"Every Saturday when I go to work I think the windows are going to be in pieces."

Vandals also tore up hundreds of flowers from a flower bed in the centre of the village.

Community council member Tom Sumner said the four-and-a-half metre circular flower bed was half destroyed in the attack.

Ripped up flowers were then thrown onto the top of the nearby youth shelter and into a litter bin.

He said: "It is ridiculous. This sort of thing is happening far too regularly.

"It is senseless there is no point to it at all. They have just gone berserk. It is not just one or two plants - half the flower bed has disappeared."