Thugs vandalised five memorials across central London with white paint in the space of just hours, police revealed today.

On Sunday morning, criminal damage to the RAF Bomber Command memorial was reported to police and yesterday it emerged that the statue of Sir Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in New Bond Street had also been targeted.

Scotland Yard has now said that reports of criminal damage to five memorials and statues were reported to officers during Sunday and Monday as it stepped up its search for the culprits.

A spokesman for the force said: “At 08.43am on Sunday January 20, police received a report of criminal damage to the Bomber Command memorial in Green Park, Piccadilly.

“On Monday January 21, police also received subsequent reports of damage to the 'Allies Statue' of Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt in New Bond Street, the Canada Memorial in Green Park, The Royal Marine Memorial in The Mall and the Yvonne Fletcher memorial in St James’s Square.

“In all cases white paint had been splashed on the memorials.”

The damaged memorials The RAF Bomber Command sculpture was unveiled by the Queen in June 2012 and commemorates the 55,573 airmen who were killed during the Second World War.

The Allies Statue of Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in New Bond Street was also damaged. The bronze sculptures were designed to celebrate the relationshup between the two and was unveiled by Princess Margaret in May 1995.

The Canada memorial in Green Park commemorates members of the Canadian forces who were killed during the First and Second World Wars. It was unveiled by the Queen in 1994 after being built two years earlier.

The Royal Marines Memorial on the Mall was designed and unveiled in 1903. It remembers members of the Royal Marines who died in the Boxer Rebellion Campaign in China and the Boer War in southern Africa and features two bronze figures on a stone plinth.

The memorial for Yvonne Fletcher was built to remember her after she was shot dead aged 25 while policing a protest outside the Libyan embassy in St James’s Square in April 1984. The memorial was unveiled in February 1985.

The spokesman said the incidents were being treated as linked.

Detective Inspector Dave Watkinson said: “These crimes have understandably caused anger and offence and we are working hard to identify and apprehend those responsible.

“Our enquiries are moving at pace and I urge anyone who saw anything suspicious at the locations concerned to contact us.”

No arrests have yet been made.

Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room at Central West CID on 020 7321 8210 or 101 quoting CAD reference 6493/20JAN. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.