POLICE have blamed drunken teenagers for a surge in crime in Ryedale since the start of the school summer holidays.

In recent weeks, Malton cemetery and chapel have been vandalised on three separate occasions and police have blasted the apparent 'malicious motivation' of the culprits.

In the past three weeks, there have been 27 recorded thefts, 16 incidents of criminal damage and 10 burglaries in Ryedale.

This is a huge leap in an area which only last year was hailed as having the second lowest crime rates in the country.

"It is a statistical fact that these incidents of anti-social behaviour have increased in volume since the start of the school summer holidays, " said Rich Houghton, from the Malton and Norton Neighbourhood Policing Team.

"A lot of these incidents are indisputably linked to young people and their alcohol consumption, " he added.

Last week two teenagers appeared in court after ransacking Malton Primary School and smashing a playgroup shed and destroying children's toys stored in the hut.

The 19-year-olds were placed on a community order for 12 months, told to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £2,000 compensation.

PC Houghton said: "What is particularly disturbing is the apparent malice in the attacks on the cemetery and the nursery, " said PC Houghton.

"The perpetrators cannot have failed to realise the level of upset their actions would inevitably cause. What is most disturbing is the possibility that this very upset was their motivation?"

Now police are appealing to the conscience of both parents and teenagers.

"If you are a teenager, can you be sure that the gravestone you have just smashed does not belong to a relative of your own family? Can you be sure that the nursery you have just 'trashed' is not used by a friend of your little brother or sister?"

And it's not only the residents of Malton and Norton who have to contend with the misery of crime and antisocial behaviour.

A desperate visitor to Pickering contacted the Gazette & Herald last week.

In a letter, published on Page 10 in this week's edition, written in the early hours of the morning while he was being kept awake by noisy youths in the town, he called on councillors, police and businesses to drive out the yobbish element.

PC Houghton added: "All of Ryedale Police and the Safer Ryedale Partnership are working tirelessly to detect and detain the individuals responsible for these crimes, with extra patrols being targeted specifically at areas identified as 'hot-spots'.

"Perhaps it is time we all took responsibility for our own actions, but also the actions of those for whom we have responsibility.

''Isn't it time for us each to make our contribution to keeping Ryedale the safe, prosperous low-crime area of which we are all so rightly proud?

If you have any information contact Malton Police on 0845 60 60 247, and ask to speak to PC 581 Rich Houghton or any other member of the Malton and Norton Neighbourhood Policing Team.