A FLORAL apron, bowler hat and chain were placed on the statue on top of Wallingford’s war memorial on Halloween in what a town councillor described as a “juvenile prank”.

Former mayor Bernard Stone helped to remove the apron on Saturday morning and said he was relieved no lasting damage had been done.

He said: “It is probably a bit prankish and there was no vandalism to the memorial.

“You could see it is a bit disrespectful on the one hand or see it is a bit of a juvenile prank.

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“I am disappointed — these things happen and always have. On a war memorial it is a bit disrespectful but no lasting harm was done.”

Dismissing the prank as an isolated incident, Mr Stone praised the behaviour of Halloween revellers in the town on Friday night.

He said: “The town council had a Halloween patrol and we saw no problems in the town when we were out.”

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