A MEMORIAL bench in memory of a man who died of a brain tumour which was destroyed by heartless vandals looks set to be replaced.

A bench in memory of Toby Carnell, placed in Victory Green, Brookvale, was pushed over, its legs removed from the ground and the seat section taken in July.

Initially, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC) was not going to replace the bench, as per policy, but now, as the authority is looking at undertaking works at Victory Green anyway, a replacement bench in Toby’s memory is set to be installed as part of the overall refurbishment.

Toby’s father Les Carnell said: “It is a happy coincidence really. They [BDBC] have given us a chance to look at the different style of benches. The ends are likely to be cast iron which means repair work with the pieces of wood will be easier as it won’t take a joiner or carpenter to do the repairs.

“That is obviously beneficial should it be damaged again.”

The bench is dedicated to Toby, who died of a brain tumour aged 35 in 2008 and lived all his adult life in and around Basingstoke. The bench was placed in Victory Green as this was the route that Toby would walk to the station to get to work as a building services engineer.

The new bench will have the original memorial plaque fitted to it.

Mr Carnell is hopeful the replacement will be installed before October 10, which would have been Toby’s birthday.

Since The Gazette reported on the vandalism, Mr Carnell said the family has received a huge amount of support from the community, particularly when it looked as if they may have had to pay for the replacement.

He said: “We have had a lot of people say they wanted to contribute to the cost to replace the bench. I even had someone come up to me while I was shopping to say how terrible they felt.

“It is wonderful they felt they wanted to contribute, but instead we asked them to make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support or a similar charity to help their work.

“It goes to show, there is more of a sense of community than you probably appreciate.”

The vandalism is believed to have taken place over the weekend of July 23 and 24 and was reported to both BDBC and Hampshire Constabulary which is investigating.