Vandals daub swastika on memorial to murdered Leeds policeman

A church warden discovered wreaths ripped up and the memorial stone, opposite the church where Sgt John Speed was killed, covered in silver spray paint.

The destruction occurred a week after Sgt Speed's annual remembrance

service - he was killed on October 31, 1984.

Police are treating the vandalism as "racial damage" because the silver

spray-painted graffiti resembles a swastika.

Officials at Leeds Parish Church, Leeds, who discovered the vandalism on Saturday morning, said they were appalled.

Senior verger Iain Howell was alerted by a church warden and found the graffiti as well as flowers and cards from the wreaths strewn around.

"I was disgusted by it. It's barbaric," he said.

Reverend David Ford, assistant curate, said the vandalism was "despicable and disgusting".

"Above all it's sad and it's really sad for the family. It is not clearly a swastika but it clearly looks like an attempt at an anti-police statement.

"This is a statement against the police but the people who are hurt are the family," he said.

Sgt Speed was murdered after going to the aid of a colleague who was fired on during a routine check on two men acting suspiciously near the Parish Church.

His colleague PC John Thorpe was lying in a pool of blood when the gunman turned his weapon on the 39-year-old sergeant, shooting him in the chest at point-blank range.

He died shortly after the shooting and PC Thorpe was seriously wounded, but survived.

The blooded killer escaped by hijacking a passing van and was not

identified as David Gricewith until after his own death in 1987.

Police were chasing the murderer's vehicle following a raid on a supermarket at Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, when his sawn-off shotgun went off accidentally, shooting him in the stomach.

It was information obtained from a girlfriend after his death confirmed

growing police suspicions that Gricewith was the cop killer.

A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said they were called at 12.20pm on Saturday about the damage to Sgt Speed's memorial and enquiries were ongoing.