‘Tommy’ remembrance statue destroyed by vandals in Dromore

This is not the first time that the memorial to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice has been vandalised, however now the statue has been destroyed and the Dromore branch of the Royal British Legion have had to remove it from its customary place of honour.

Royal British Legion branch Secretary Colin Ward said: “The PSNI are aware and are treating it as a deliberate hate crime. They are currently trawling through CCTV coverage and would ask that anyone who has any information regarding this heinous act to come forward.

“The first incident of vandalism was in August but at that time we thought it was just children but this was more than just a child doing this. This is a teenager or an adult deliberately taking the head off the figure. It would have taken a bit of work.”

Mr Ward added they are determined not to be defeated by the vandals and are hopeful that the Tommy figures will return.

“There are more of these figures in other areas like Culcavey, Hillsborough and Lisburn and none of them have been touched,” he continued. “Why is this happening in Dromore?

“But like any other Guard, they will be back on duty in some way asap.”

Mr Ward said the Dromore branch of the Royal British Legion recently held a cross community fun day, as well as a concert and drumhead remembrance service. “We had a fantastic cross community open day for all ages and everyone had a brilliant time. Sadly this has taken the edge off that.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the police on the non-emergency number 101.