A MYSTERY vandal is making the life of one Nythe resident miserable by damaging her car four times in six weeks.

Jean Woodham is frightened to leave her home in the evenings and fears she is being targeted by an unknown criminal with a grudge after the passenger-side wing mirror of her 13-year-old Suzuki was repeatedly destroyed within the last two months.

The 54-year-old said: "It's not mindless vandalism, it's targeted intimidation, though it's quite small-scale, just enough to scare me but not serious enough for the police to take much notice, it's really put me on edge.

"I've lived here for 20 years and get on well with my neighbours, I haven't fallen out with anyone, it's a nice area, I've racked my brains trying to find a reason for this happening and I honestly can't think of one.

"I used to like going out on my own for walks around the neighbourhood in the evening but now I’m too frightened to do that in case I’m attacked, I don't feel safe, I might even move and hope whoever is doing this don't find out where I live. As soon as I get the mirror fixed, it's broken again overnight during the next weekend, it's not a particularly flashy car and I can just about afford to run it so if this happens again I'll just get rid of it.

Jean's husband and son are both angry about the incidents and concerned by the immense stress it's causing their loved one. CCTV has been installed outside their home and the police have been called but so far, the identity of the person responsible has not been discovered.

Jean added: "I work as a medical secretary at a local GP and people sometimes get angry with me there, but it's general frustration with the state of the NHS but not me personally, and my car is never damaged when it's at work, only when it's on my drive. My husband's rear window was broken once but it's mainly my car that gets damaged.

"If I have upset someone I would just like to know what I've done, why they're doing this, apologise to them and deal with this in an adult way.

"The police came out to talk to me but they're not really interested and I don't blame them, I appreciate that they don't have the time or resources to deal with this."

A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman said: "We can confirm we have received these reports and an officer attended the victim’s address on Sunday to provide some advice regarding home security, as well as some reassurance. Although the case has been closed, we will continue to investigate should any further lines of enquiry come to light. If any witnesses have any information which could help, they are encouraged to call us on 101 and quote crime reference number 54190035913."