Musical David Bowie statue vandalised in Aylesbury Published duration 27 March 2018

media caption The vandal spent about two minutes spraying the artwork, wall and pavement

A statue of David Bowie has been vandalised less than 48 hours after being unveiled.

The bronze sculpture, entitled Earthly Messenger, was revealed in Aylesbury where he debuted Ziggy Stardust.

"Feed the homeless first" has been written in front of it, "RIP DB" on a wall beside it and a section of the statue has been painted on.

The damage has been described as "awful" and "pointless" and is thought to have happened overnight on Monday.

Money to create the work, that was officially unveiled on Sunday, was raised through grants and a £100,000 crowdfunding appeal.

image caption It is thought the graffiti appeared sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning

image copyright South Beds News Agency image caption Volunteers have been working hard to get rid of the spray paint

image copyright South Beds News Agency image caption The volunteers turned up with buckets of soapy water to clean the sculpture

Helen Light, from Aylesbury, said: "Vandalising it is awful.

"Tax payers will now be paying for the clean-up so it is the vandal who will ironically be taking money away from the homeless."

Nigel Howlett, also from the town, said: "This is stupid, and silly.

"It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the vandalism is just pointless."

image copyright South Beds News Agency image caption The sculpture's creator hopes the artwork will be paint-free within the day

image caption The statue shows a relaxed Bowie looking at his variety of alter egos

Music promoter David Stopps, the man behind the artwork, said: "We can get that paint off, we will be working on it today.

"It is a public piece of art and we will keep looking after it on a daily basis.

"There is a webcam on it 24/7 so whoever did it, we have got them on webcam."

image copyright PA Archive image caption David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust phase in 1973

Bowie first performed as his Stardust persona and debuted two albums at gigs at the Friars music venue in the early 1970s.

The statue was designed by sculptor Andrew Sinclair and features a likeness of Bowie in 2002 regarding a selection of his alter egos down the years, with Ziggy at the front.