YOBS who broke into a Padiham factory to steal tools didn't just trash it --they stayed for a game of football.

And that just highlights a new low in the sheer arrogance of criminals.

Workers arrived at Turkington's Engineering to find a pitch had been marked out, fire extinguishers placed for goalposts and two footballs left behind, as well as all the mindless destruction of the premises which had been carried out.

One police officer said: "In my experience I can't remember anything of a similar nature at all."

Smaller companies have been known to fold after having their factories trashed by vandals, with jobs going to the wall.

That doesn't bother vandals in the slightest.

But going off the latest evidence, not a lot does bother them.

The fact they were able to stay in the factory for a good deal of time, no doubt making plenty of noise, smacks of utter disregard and contempt for law and order.

They don't appear to have been worried about being discovered.

It's a display of arrogance from people who so openly don't fear justice.

And for many people, that could be seen as a worrying indicator on what modern criminals think of law and order -- a worrying sign of the times.

That is why when the police catch these young hooligans they need to throw the book at them.

Hopefully the courts will do the same and make an example of the youths behind this crime.