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Two "magnificent" trees will have to be chopped down after vandals "deliberately set out to kill" in a "sickening" attack, a council has said.

A Salford City Council spokesman said the 50-year-old sycamores in Worsley had been stripped of bark and "gouged" using a practice known as girdling.

The damage means the trees on the A580 East Lancashire Road cannot draw up water and will eventually die, it said.

A councillor said "scarce public money" would now be wasted on removing them.

The council spokesman said the vandalism, which was believed to have taken place before 10:00 BST on Monday, had been reported to Greater Manchester Police.

Appealing for witnesses to what happened, Councillor David Lancaster said the damage "would have taken 15 to 20 minutes", adding: "Whoever is responsible has deliberately set out to kill these two magnificent trees - this is not just a random bit of vandalism."

He said the authority would now have to "waste scarce public money removing these trees because as they die, they could become dangerous".

In line with its policy, the council would plant two trees for each one removed, "but four new young trees cannot compensate for the loss of these magnificent specimens", he added.

Worsley and Eccles South MP Barbara Keeley said she was "saddened" by the "senseless" attack.