VICAR of Christchurch Canon Hugh Williams and other prominent Priory figures could end up behind bars - to deter vandalism at a much-loved local landmark.

Council parks chiefs - and their insurers - want to cage the effigy of the vicar and other characters on a statue in Priory Gardens off Christchurch Quay.

The Portland stone column with its comical caricatures of the holy and lowly has delighted visitors since it was unveiled in 1994 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the founding of the Priory.

But the vulnerable sculpture has also attracted unwelcome attention from vandal attacks, most recently in November 2005 when raiders ravaged the faces of five figures.

Canon Williams, the Priory's 11th century founder Ranulf Flambard and a mediæval monk all had their noses broken by the vandals, who also gouged the eyes of a Henry VIII henchman and scratched the face of a Norman knight, leaving the council's insurers to meet the £5,000 cost of the concrete cosmetic surgery.

Now plans have been drawn up to put a ring of steel around the statue with five-foot high metal railings at the edge of the paving slabs at the base of the sculpture.

In a supporting statement lodged with the planning application, council parks and countryside manager Clive Sinden said the fencing was needed to meet the demands of the insurers who threatened not to pay out for further damage if security was not improved.

And he felt the size and design of the black painted railings topped with decorative finials was appropriate for the site.

Canon Williams said: "At the time in 1994 it was decided not to put a fence round it so that blind people would be able to feel the statue.

"Since then my nose has been broken twice and my face disfigured. Maybe the time has come to try and protect it.

"I am not convinced that putting a railing round it will protect it completely but if it reduced the temptation for vandalism it has to be a good thing."