A play area in a sleepy West Lancashire village park has been targeted by sadistic vandals who fixed razor blades to a children's slide.

The potentially deadly blades were fixed with sellotape, leading to an urgent appeal by police, who warned parents of the risk of serious harm to their children.

Ormskrik and Burscough Police found the blades on Friday morning and published a video of the blades on its Facebook page - which has so far attracted more than 11,000 views.

The footage shows three blades taped to the slide in Winifred Lane park in Aughton, where they were attached at angles designed to cause serious damage to a person's hand.

Shelagh Storey, 56, from Aughton, said: "What happened here is shocking, I've spoken to everyone in the area and no one knows how the blades got there. The play area is used by really young children, so what happened here is more than the next level, it is serious.

"I was walking by last week and I noticed a big gang of people hanging out and causing mayhem in the children's play park - that is completely unusual for this area, it is always so quiet and people are respectful."