Sign up to the Hull Live newsletter for daily updates and breaking news Sign up here! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Police are investigating after vandals covered a statue of Sir Winston Churchill and a war memorial in paint.

The damage to the Bomber Command Memorial in London's Green Park and the statue of the Second World War prime minister in the capital's New Bond Street was discovered on Monday morning.

Both of the statues had been splashed with white paint, Scotland Yard said.

The RAF Benevolent Fund said it was the fourth time in six years that the bomber memorial had been sabotaged and that the white gloss paint remained wet "at daybreak" when it was discovered.

Air Vice-Marshal David Murray, the charity's chief executive, said: "This is the worst example of vandalism we have seen at the memorial and it is utterly heartbreaking to see the memory of all those brave airmen disrespected in this way.

"This despicable act took just moments but will take considerable time and resources to put right.

"But like the remarkable men who the Memorial commemorates, we will not rest until we have finished the job."

CCTV footage from nearby the statue - which commemorates more than 55,500 members of the Bomber Command who died in the Second World War - has been passed to police.

The charity estimates repairs could run into thousands of pounds. No arrests have been made.

The Bomber Command statue was vandalised in 2013 when a man daubed the word "Islam" on it shortly after the killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks.

A week later, a second man wrote "Lee Rigby's killers should hang", "EDL" and "F*** the police" on the memorial. He was jailed for 12 weeks.