A FRIGHTENED deer ran rampage through a Cowley cul-de-sac, smashing ornaments and scratching furniture in a pensioner’s home.

Residents were astonished when a muntjac deer – nicknamed Asbo Bambis for their destructive sprees – sprinted into pensioner Enid Norris’s garden from Rose Hill Cemetery, before jumping through the patio door and racing around her home.

It then leapt over a six-foot fence into a neighbour’s garden before disappearing into the grounds of the Singletree sheltered housing complex.

Mrs Norris, of Eleanor Close, said: “It was about midday, and I was working in the back garden.

“The side gate was open and I heard a lot of commotion, then this animal came racing in.

“It ran right through the kitchen and the dining room, leaving broken ornaments and scratched furniture, and tried to jump out of the front window.”

It leapt the fence into neighbour Stephen Davey’s garden. Retired prison officer Mr Davey, 69, said: “There are quite a few of them in Rose Hill Cemetery but we’ve never seen anything like this before. It was quite a young deer and it was scared more than anything.”

Naturalists have warned that the cute-looking muntjacs, which originated in Asia, are becoming increasingly destructive in Britain, devouring native woodland plants and destroying bird habitats.

Last year the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs named the two-foot-high deer as one of six invasive species threatening wildlife, asking members of the public to record sightings.

Oxford City Council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “It is quite common to see muntjacs in Rose Hill Cemetery, and we have had a few minor problems.

“There have been signs up in the cemetery for quite a long time warning people about them.”