Fury as Wigan Pier landmark statue suffers new vandal attack

Onlookers have condemned the latest “act of senseless vandalism” inflicted on the bronzed figure which stood next to the famously reconstructed coal tippler.

Four statues were originally installed at various points around the quarter in the early 2000s, but each was subjected to multiple criminal damage indiginties to the point where two – a woman sitting on the towpath at the back of Trencherfield Mill and a man painting one of the tourist boards near the Mill at the Pier – were removed completely.

A third – of a millworker looking across the canal from Pottery Road – was scalped several years ago – and the fourth – of a bargee on the towpath has now been broken off at the ankles.

It had been attacked previously, at one point being thrown into the canal.

Someone later took to chaining it to the wall in a vain attempt to protect it from further attack.

A passer-by who took a photo of the latest damage said: “This is very sad news for the town of Wigan.

"People are trying to make it a better place and it is being undermined by senseless vandalism.”

Another said: “It makes you sick. Wigan has a very proud industrial heritage on which efforts have been made to capitalise to the benefit of local people and the economy. Then something like this happens – again.”

It is hoped that the former Way We Were Museum, Orwell pub and education centre will be relaunched as a new leisure and culture hub by the late summer.