A row has erupted at the site where an intruder was stabbed to death by a pensioner as tributes to the dead man have been repeatedly torn down.

Relatives of Henry Vincent, who died aged 37, have been placing hundreds of flowers, as well as cards and balloons as tributes outside the home where he was stabbed in South Park Crescent.

However seemingly every time new tributes are placed, someone has appeared within hours to tear them all down.

A large number of people in the area have called Richard Osborn-Brooks, the 78-year-old who stabbed Vincent, a “hero” and have called the tribute an “insult” to the pensioner.

The flashpoint has prompted police to deploy mounted officers to the scene in the event of a potential flare-up in tensions.

After relatives started to put the memorial back, a woman, who said she was Vincent's aunt, said: "If people leave the flowers alone within a week they'll die, we will come here, clean this road, and go and never come back.

"All we want is them just left until the flowers die and we will take them away."

Resident Theresa Webb, 43, said of the shrine: "It was inappropriate, poor taste really.

"You're thinking 'how long will it be up there?' I'm relieved it's down. There was 101 bouquets down there."

Saverimuthu Augustine, 78, said he was "annoyed" that some flowers had been attached to fences around his house.

He said: "I don't appreciate it.

"If it's a normal person it's different, but he went and burgled a house - it could have been my house."

Mr Osborn-Brooks was originally arrested on suspicion of murder and released on bail, but no charges were ultimately pressed against the pensioner.

In January, Vincent was named and pictured by Kent Police investigating a distraction burglary in which jewellery and valuables were stolen from a man in his 70s.