CONSERVATIVE candidate Nick King was the target of an ‘orchestrated campaign’ of vandalism and graffiti of his election boards – including crude insults and homophobic slurs.

Between 60 and 70 ‘Vote Nick King’ and ‘Vote Conservative’ boards – worth almost £1,000 altogether – were damaged over the course of his campaign to be elected MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole.

The signs, pitched outside the homes of Tory supporters from across the constituency, were daubed with graffiti, slashed or removed.

On three occasions a clear trail of destruction could be traced. One night the act of vandalism went right from the Bakers Arms roundabout, through Upton, on to Broadstone and finally to Wimborne, where the stolen signs were dumped on Mr King’s front lawn.

He told the Echo the perpetrators even emailed him from an anonymous Gmail account to taunt him about their actions.

Liberal Democrat or Labour boards had also been put up in his garden on more than on occasion.

“You expect it to happen a little bit,” he said. “But this has been quite orchestrated to the extent that, down a road where there are three or four of our boards and three or four opposition boards, all our boards will be slashed with a knife or have stuff written all over them, while the others are not touched. That suggests something quite deliberate.”

He said: “There has been some homophobic insults – but mostly just rudeness really.”

While he didn’t point the finger at his political rivals, he hit out at those involved for frightening his supporters by trespassing on their property.

Some people’s homes were targeted repeatedly– including an widow in her 70s from Broadstone, whose home was visited by vandals four times in the run up to the election.

“It’s beginning to quite frighten people – that’s what worries me more than anything,” he said.