Vandals trash Branson's home

Vandals caused £50,000 damage rampaging through Sir Richard Branson's country estate. The youths hot-wired a roller, digger and dumper and ran riot with them across the Virgin billionaire's land. They gouged out holes in landscaped grassland and uprooted trees. The gang also raced motorbikes around the grounds, crashing into a wooden footbridge leading into Sir Richard's back garden.

The thugs vandalised the 80-hectare Mill End House Estate near Kidlington, Oxfordshire, on Tuesday night but the damage was not discovered until yesterday morning. Sir Richard's furious gardener, Ian Pearson, 60, said the vandals ruined ten years of work. 'I haven't told Richard yet. He's out of the country and has enough to think about,' he added.

Police confirmed they were investigating.