FLORAL tributes to 31-year-old Peter Scarff, who is believed to have died in a car fire two weeks ago, have been stolen or torn apart by vandals.

His family have condemned as mindless thugs the vandals who took the wreaths and cards and ripped apart bouquets left on the spot on Monument Hill, Devizes, where Mr Scarff is thought to have died.

One of the items missing is a card made by Mr Scarff's ten-year-old son Jason.

"I can understand someone taking away the flowers if they were dead, but this is just mindless thuggery," said Mr Scarff's brother, Paul, 34, of Mayenne Place, Devizes.

Peter Scarff is believed to have died when his Mazda saloon was engulfed in flames on September 26.

His family is still awaiting the results of DNA analysis to confirm that remains found in the car were his.

Until then, the body cannot be released for burial.

His mother, Diane Fell, of Longcroft Road, Devizes, said: "It must be Peter. It was definitely his car and if he were still alive, someone would have seen him. We are just devastated."

It is expected a service will take place at Semington Crematorium when the body is finally released and his ashes will be interred in St James Churchyard, Devizes.

Peter Scarff, who had two brothers and a sister, was born in Bath but brought up in Devizes. He went to Southbroom infants and junior school before moving on to Devizes School.

He worked at Linpac before taking a job with the hygiene group at Hayden's Bakeries. A keen footballer, he regularly played for Devizes Snooker Club in the Devizes Sunday League.

Paul Strickland, skipper of the snooker club team and a friend of Mr Scarff's since childhood, said: "Peter's death knocked me for six. I'd known him for 20 years and he just wasn't the kind of bloke to do something like this."

The family said Mr Scarff was a ladies' man and had been married three times. Although his address was given as Snuff Court, Devizes, where his car was registered, he had three girlfriends and had stayed at an address in Trowbridge the night before his death.

He was being pursued by the Child Support Agency and also had debts.

Paul Scarff said, though his brother was not clinically depressed, the financial and personal pressures on him had got on top of him.