AN OUTPOURING of anger has followed the news that a beloved treehouse in Wildmoor Heath Nature Reserve has been torn down.

Danny Smith, 71, built the wooden structure for kids to play on when visiting the park.

Last week, the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust confirmed the structure had been used as a drinking den, and had 'attracted anti-social behaviour and vandalism'.

Shannen Gale, Danny's daughter, said: "Myself and my family are so upset that my Dad worked so hard on this treehouse for many months for it to just be destroyed with no real valid reason. 

"It is heartbreaking to see my son and nephews so sad to see it go. We will never get the answers we wanted, as we were ignored along with the rest of the community."

Shannen and 1,100 other people signed a petition calling for the Wildlife Trust to leave the structure up, but it was removed last week.

Mr Smith said he was disappointed with the way the young kids and teens who used the structure had been portrayed.

He said: "It took a few months to get their respect and give them my respect. 

"I built up a lovely, lovely relationship with the ones that used to spit and put their hoods up, that's whats really choked me up more than anything. 

"The teenagers were meeting up there and really starting to show me respect. If another teenager chucked a can down there, they'd go and pick it up. 

"There was never any noise, no radios. I said 'no drugs, no cannabis, if you're going to do that you're not going to do that here.'

"All that's gone by the wayside. We didn't have any of this dogging or any contraceptives. I never saw anything to do with any sexual activities up there. I've never seen anything of that nature." 

Mr Smith was disappointed to see the structure go, and said he just wants to find out why it was pulled down.

He continued: "I want to set up an honest face-to-face talk with the people making these accusations, and the exact facts as to why they went to such extreme measures, such as employing sherrifs.

"It was all about the children."

The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust declined to comment further.