A SELF-confessed “car nut” was left sickened after vandals set about his prized classic Jaguar.

Peter French only left the British racing green XJ6 parked on the village green near his home in Broughton Hackett, near Worcester, for a couple of hours on Sunday, February 3.

But he returned to find deep scratches on the bonnet, roof and all along the passenger side. The tyres on the car had also been let down.

He is looking at a £1,000 repair bill, which will have to come out of his own pocket as he does not want to lose his no claims bonus on his insurance. But as much as the cost he is upset that someone would choose to deliberately vandalise the previously pristine car.

“When I saw what had happened I felt sick,” he said. “I am a car nut and I cannot understand why anybody would do that sort of thing to such a beautiful vehicle.

“To me it is like going and smashing the Mona Lisa.”

Mr French, who is 53 and designs fire detection systems for a living, said: “For something like that to happen in such a quiet little village is most unusual. I want to warn other people in the area to watch out for it.”

Police are investigating and anyone with information should call 101, quoting incident number 502S/040213.