There are to be no more nose jobs for York's Queen Victoria.

STONE ME: West Bank Park keeper John Skerret with the statue of Queen Victoria which has once again lost its nose

Picture: Steve Bradshaw.

Every time vandals have smashed the nose of the marble statue in West Bank Park, Holgate, the council has lovingly restored it.

But this time the vandals have gone a nose too far. A spokesman for City of York Council, said: "Within days of us restoring her nose it disappeared. Short of putting a fence around it to prevent vandalism, there is little more we can do. We have no definite plans to repair the statue again. I would appeal to those who took the nose to return it and then maybe it could be replaced."

Park keeper John Skerret said: "It's very disrespectful. I wish people would leave the nose alone. Young vandals have spoilt a beautiful old statue."

Local residents voted for the monument to be cleaned and repaired in 1998, as part of a council initiative to fund local schemes.

Within a matter of days that new nose had been swiped. John Coulson, chairman of the Friends of West Bank Park, said: "It's a tragedy because the statue is a good focal point for the park. Nobody will want to give money towards it again. Most of these young people won't even know who Queen Victoria was. I think it would be best to leave it alone unless someone can come up with any solutions. Maybe we need to get an unbreakable nose. They don't make them like that nowadays."

John Shannon, chairman of the York Civic Trust, said the statue was made by George Milburn, a distinguished local sculptor. It was first exhibited in the York Guildhall in 1905 before it went to the City Art Gallery in 1911. It was moved to the park in 1954. Mr Shannon said: "I think the vandalism is lamentable, but unfortunately it's the sort of thing we have come to expect."

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