THE homes of mobile phone mast protesters have been targeted in a "malicious" poster campaign.

Residents of Upper Welland, South of Malvern, claimed a three-year-long independent report failed to prove the masts were 100 per cent safe, and vowed to continue fighting Vodafone's plans for one at Mayall Farm, in Watery Lane.

However, campaign organiser Caroline Bennett was stunned when she discovered three copies of the report pinned to her gate - and others throughout the village.

Tears

"We were targeted in the middle of the night in an intentional and malicious way", said the 37-year-old mother-of-three.

"My first reaction was to burst into tears, which was very upsetting for my children.

"Until these masts are proved to be entirely safe I don't want my kids growing up near them and to have someone mocking your fears for your family and treating you like a village idiot is very upsetting".

Copies of the report, which claimed the masts were "unlikely to pose a risk to health", were also pinned on fellow campaigners' doors, the village store and the home of an elderly lady, who has no connection to the protest.

Last month disgruntled villagers in Upper Welland, staged a candlelit vigil against the planned mast.

"If scientists came to me in 10 years' time and said, 'Here is the proof that these phones are safe', then I would hold my hands up and admit I was wrong," said Mrs Bennett.

"But I don't want to take the chance of seeing children playing in a field of radiation and live to regret the decision to allow any mast to be built in the future."

The Welland phone mast application will be discussed by Malvern Hills District Council's southern area planning committee this Wednesday.

Wychavon district councillors said they approved the Droitwich 3G at The Weighbridge in Union Lane, Droitwich, because health could not be considered a planning issue.

Councillors have written to counterparts in towns and villages across Wychavon to help front a campaign to change this law.

Vodafone spokeswoman Jane Frapwell said its masts met international guidelines and had formal backing from the World Health Organisation, recommended to the company by the UK Government.