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Co Antrim 'Ghost Tommy' vandalised after concerns raised about location

A 'Ghost Tommy' figure which was vandalised over the weekend.
A 'Ghost Tommy' figure which was vandalised over the weekend. A 'Ghost Tommy' figure which was vandalised over the weekend.

A 'Ghost Tommy' figure erected in Cairncastle to remember fallen soldiers from the First World War has been vandalised over the weekend.

Last week a Sinn Féin councillor accused a Co Antrim council of showing "a total disregard" for nationalists in the borough after a memorial was put up in the road between Larne and Glenarm.

Earlier this year Mid and East Antrim Borough Council backed a plan to erect a series of 'Ghost Tommy' figures across the district.

The ghostly silhouettes of First World War soldiers are part of a project by the charity Remembered as part of its 'there but not there campaign'.

Mid and East Antrim council bought four of the 6ft aluminium figures at a cost of £750 each.

Sinn Féin councillor James McKeown said he received complaints after a 'Ghost Tommy' was put up in the Cairncastle area.

"A number of people who have contacted me are very unhappy there has been no consultation with the local community about putting this up in such a mixed area", he said.

The Co Antrim 'Ghost Tommy' has since been vandalised, with the figure bent out of shape sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.