The town clerk of Penryn has expressed dismay after vandals scratched a racial slur into a memorial bench at the Glebe Cemetery.

The perpetrators scratched ‘southwest ni**er’s’ into the Rotary Club bench in the last six weeks, as it had happened since the bench was last varnished.

Clerk Michelle Davey said: “I think it’s someone who thinks they are some sort of gangster, and it’s quite pathetic.

“It’s also costly, and disrepspectful.

“If that had been a bench to someone’s loved one they would be quite upset.”

In a statement on Facebook, Penryn Town Council appealed for help to find the perpetrators, as well as lamenting their lack of grammar.

The council wrote: “Just been up to the Glebe Cemetery and dismayed to see that someone has etched the words "southwest ni**er's" in a newly varnished memorial bench kindly given to the town by the Rotary Club. If anyone knows who the perpetrator(s) might be, please would you let us know so that we can (a) have them prosecuted for criminal damage, and (b) educate them in the proper use of apostrophes.”