'Thieves will not beat us', vows Wigan farm

John and Clare Wignall said they appreciated the support shown to them after the heartbreaking damage.

The wrecking spree saw bottles of their highly acclaimed Yallo oil, sold from the box outside the farm, smashed.

They had said the box would not come back due to the vandalism - highlighted in a post on Standish Community Watch page - but the number of supportive comments has led to a change of mind.

An honesty box allows customers to pay for products or services from an unattended stall.

Vowing not to be defeated, they said: “On behalf of Standish hall farm we really appreciate the support and will not be beaten by mindless individuals, so will continue with the honesty box.

“Thank you for the support.”

A photograph shared on the social media showed the shocking mess the vandals made of the box and the bottles of cold pressed oil in it which were available for sale to passers-by.

A post on the Standish Community Watch Facebook page after the incident described the vandalism as “sad and mindless” and “sickening” and said they “genuinely felt sorry” for the perpetrators.

The post said the incident has been reported to the police and thanked the community for their support.

It said: “A sad and mindless act of vandalism. It’s sickening that during these very difficult times for everyone someone should carry out such an act.

It added: “We genuinely feel sorry for them and we would like to thank all of the local community that have given us support beforehand, the incident has been reported to the police and they have taken fingerprints from the broken bottles.”

Anyone with information about this incident can call police on 101 or contact independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.