VANDALS ripped out a car window and returned a day later to smash a second as they carried out a trail of destruction in Laindon.

At least five cars, parked in and around Crosse Courts were targeted overnight on Wednesday - and more cars were tampered with in the previous days.

Dad-of-four James Chalkley, 33, was notified by his neighbour mthat his blue Mazda 2, which was parked in Verbena Gardens, had been vandalised.

He said: "My neighbour knocked on my door and said that someone had cut the rubber on the window and had taken the window away.

"They hadn't gone inside though, nothing had been stolen.

"I put a bag over it and then the next night, my passenger side window was smashed and they had gone through what was in my car.

"They left glass all over the baby seat.

"After what had happened the previous night, I had left nothing in there of any value.

"I couldn't believe it had happened again, it's really disheartening."

An Essex Police spokesman said that they were searching for two teenagers in connection with the spate of vandalism.

He said: "Police were called to Crosse Courts just before midnight on Wednesday following reports that two men were damaging cars.

"They were both described as white, in their late teens. One was wearing a hooded top and the other was wearing a jacket that was described as being light on the inside. They ran off towards Laindon railway station.

Officers attended and found windows of five cars had been smashed.

"They were a black Ford Fiesta, a black Toyota Yaris and a gold Jaguar X type parked in Crosse Courts. They also damaged a blue Vauxhall Zafira and a red Renault Traffic van parked in Southwell Link."

Sgt Al Burridge, from Basildon's community policing team, said: "We are incorporating this into our daily patrols when we are in that area.

"We keep having little clusters of this kind of criminal damage here, there and everywhere.

"We don't have any leads of who the people are so we would be really keen for anyone to call us with information."

Anyone with information can call Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.