Two large swastikas were daubed in Broughton Park in the early hours of Saturday morning. One was on the pavement outside the Stenecourt Synagogue, the other on a telephone junction box a few hundred yards away in Singleton Road.

The graffiti was discovered by shul-goers and police officers on patrol with community security volunteers.

Police are treating the daubings as racially motivated, but not connected to the Gaza conflict. However, Community Security Trust spokesman Mark Gardner pointed out: “Swastikas have been extensively used in anti-Israel demonstrations in recent weeks and we believe there is every possibility that these swastikas are linked to that kind of anti-Israel sentiment.”

The police gave assurances that street cleaners would remove the graffiti. But in their absence, a resident spray-painted over one and Stenecourt’s caretaker removed the other.