MEMBERS of a congregation in a quiet Lincolnshire village have spent this week cleaning up after swastikas and other far-right graffiti were sprayed on a church hall and homes.

The Priest-in-Charge of St Peter and St Paul, in Gosberton, near Boston, the Revd Ian Walters, said: "Many people here are shocked and horrified."

In the attack, which was carried out in the early hours of 13 October, fascist slogans and logos including a clenched-fist outline, and the number 88, which stands for "Heil Hitler" (H being the eighth letter of the alphabet), were painted on the church-hall doors (above) and an adjoining wall. Similar graffiti were painted on two houses near by, an electricity sub-station, and a private garage.

"Thankfully, our beautiful 14th-century church was not affected," Mr Walters said. "The police took it very seriously; they came very quickly. Workmen are still scrubbing it off; it's pretty much all gone, but there are still some traces on the church-hall wall.

"There was no obvious reason why it was done. We just hope it was one very misled individual, and that it was a one-off. It seems it was an attack on the village, not just us, but our churchwarden did tell me she had seen swastikas on the back wall of the church hall a few days before.

"There has been no activity in the village which might have provoked anything like this, or any signs of any right-wing activity. Nor have I preached anything, or said anything in my articles for the local paper, which might have provoked this."

Mr Walters did not think the attack could be linked to his post as the chaplain of the local Royal British Legion branch. "Perhaps significantly, the very prominent war memorial we have in the village has not been painted," he said. "We do have some migrant workers living in the village . . . but there was nothing in the graffiti to suggest they were the target."

This week, a spokeswoman for Lincolnshire Police said that the inquiry had been wound down, but the file would remain open.