A distressed son is calling for greater security at a Bradford cemetery after three gravestones were desecrated by vandals.

Mohammed Hanif found his mother's headstone had been knocked down when he made his weekly visit to Bowling Cemetery, off Rooley Lane.

Mr Hanif, who is unemployed, will have to pay for the repairs himself.

Two other Muslim headstones were also knocked over during last Thursday's incident.

Mr Hanif, 39, of West Bowling wants to see more security at the cemetery which has been plagued by a spate of attacks. The last took place in September when 35 Muslim gravestones were smashed.

Mr Hanif said: "It was awful. I found my mother's grave had been knocked over and saw others had been vandalised too.

"There are always a lot of youngsters hanging about and I often feel scared going in there. It's happened before and it will happen again.

"There needs to be more security. And then there's the cost of repairing it. "

Councillor Ahmed Riaz (Lib Dem, Bradford Moor) is urging Bradford Council to install CCTV cameras at the cemetery.

"It's happening too often and it's ongoing," he said. "The Council has to do something about it. CCTV cameras are needed. We have a park ranger service but they cannot be in one place all the time.

"It's distressing for the families. Muslim graves are being targeted."

A Bradford Council spokesman said: "This seems to have been a random attack on headstones. It appears they have been pushed over but fortunately none of them has been damaged.

"We have informed the families who look after the headstones as it is their responsibility to put them back in place.

"Our rangers make regular patrols of the area and we continue to urge the public to contact the police immediately if they see people causing a nuisance in the cemetery."

West Yorkshire Police confirmed the vandalism had been reported and was being investigated.