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Two drunken brothers armed with a metal bar attacked a D Day Pegasus Bridge memorial in Exeter.

Ricky and Oliver Young had been drinking while on a fishing trip one day in May on a jetty near the bridge which runs parallel to the canal.

Exeter magistrates heard the brothers were ‘laughing’ as they used the metal bar to hit the memorial with ‘chunks coming out of monument as they were doing so’.

The court heard Ricky Young also used a bar to hit a parked truck and then a catapult to fire stones which smashed the windscreen of the vehicle.

The court heard Oliver, 29, of Monks Road, Exeter, and 32 year old Ricky, of St Peter’s Road, Honiton, had been seen drinking and fishing in the area which is popular with cyclists and walkers.

The brothers were ’playfighting’ before Ricky Young used a bar and the catapult to attack the truck belonging to a building contractor who saw him.

The brothers admitted a joint charge of causing criminal damage to the D Day Pegasus Bridge memorial, and Ricky Young also admitted the criminal damage to the truck.

The pair were given community orders and told to carry out a total of 180 hours unpaid work and Ricky to pay £250 compensation to the trucker.

A spokesperson for The Royal British Legion said: “We were shocked and saddened to hear of this incident. War memorials and graves honour the memory of our Armed Forces and deserve to be treated with the utmost respect.”