THE artist behind the damaged elephant in the Herd in the City Havens Hospice fundraiser has expressed his sadness.

Lollie the elephant, who was placed in Leigh Library Gardens was found damaged and lying on its side this morning.

The elephant was decorated with painted lolly pops and ice cream by David Maguire.

Money raised from the sculptures placed in Southend, Leigh and Shoeburyness will help to run Havens Hospices.

The charity helps families and individuals impacted by incurable illness in South Essex.

Mr Maguire, said: "I'm absolutely crushed to see this this morning. I spent weeks carefully painting her and all of the little details on each ice cream and lolly and it's terrible for it all to be ruined so close to the end of the trail.

"It's so sad that she won't be able to be on display until the end thanks to some mindless individual who clearly has issues if they can't leave charity art sculptures alone.

"I hope those that did get to visit Lollie when she was looking her best, enjoyed meeting her and appreciated the love that went into creating her."