IT’S a depressingly familiar sight in most town centres.

Like graffiti and fly-tipping, the spectacle of locked bicycles left half-dismantled in an effort to steal them is a blight on many streets.

Sometimes unsuccessful thieves will petulantly leave a wheel mangled, as if in reproach to the owner for having the temerity to lock their bike.

But if the mentality of the common bicycle thief is hard to understand, it would require a huge leap of imagination to comprehend what drove the vandals in today’s Echo.

The “ghost bike” set up in memory of Poole Wheelers stalwart Rob Jefferies has been a landmark since he died on the A351 last May. Its presence sends out a message about how much he is missed – and about how all drivers need to go carefully around cyclists.

But since it fell victim to vandals, it has been sending out another message: That for some people, truly nothing is sacred.