Vandals have sprayed graffiti on a statue of Saltaire's founder Sir Titus Salt in the third attack of its kind in the past four months.

Offensive slogans have been daubed all over the statue of the village's well-respected benefactor, which stands proudly in Robert's Park in the World Heritage site.

Billy Ricketts, the long-serving grounds man at Saltaire Cricket Club, discovered the vandalism, as well as graffiti scrawled on walls next to the Half Moon Café, when he returned to work today following the bank holiday.

He said he believed the culprits are the same youths responsible for a similar spate of vandalism just four months ago when Sir Titus's statue was completely covered in blue paint and another attack about seven weeks ago when the statue was daubed with insulting graffiti.

A frustrated Mr Ricketts has taken his concerns about growing levels of drug-taking, under-age drinking and antisocial behaviour in Robert's Park to the West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable, the Shipley Neighbourhood Policing Team and Shipley MP Philip Davies.

He is blaming the police for failing to act on repeated reports and is now calling on the force to act as a matter of urgency.

Mr Ricketts said: "The park is virtually a no go area at night. The police say there is nothing going on but there is something going on. It is horrendous.

"We have got a lot of anti-social behaviour and graffiti by individuals living on the estate but the police will not do anything about it. I was told to report every crime but nothing has come of it.

"There is also under-age drinking and drug abuse - I have got all the empty vodka bottles and cannabis packets to prove it.

"Now the statue has been done again. They have sprayed names in blue paint and chalked all over it."

Mr Davies said he was appalled by yobs carrying out such "mindless vandalism" and called for the police to take tough action against them.

He said: "I have spoken to Mr Ricketts on a number of occasions about this and it is getting incredible frustrating for him. These mindless yobs who go and vandalise are an absolute menace. I hope that the police can track them down and punish them."

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, the council's portfolio holder for the environment and culture, said: "The vandalism is just part of the situation down there. The lottery bid is to improve renovation and regeneration at Robert's Park and give much more ownership to the community living around the park."

Inspector John Tatham, head of the Shipley and Bingley Neighbourhood Policing Team, admitted that there have been problems at the park in recent months.

He said that it was difficult for the police to act unless the public helped them every step of the way to gather evidence against the perpetrators.

He said: "If there is anything going on at the park, we need to know about it and we will investigate it to our full capacity."