An ex-soldier who served in Iraq has put the skills he learned in the Army to good use by repairing a vandalised £10,000 mini-golf course for mental health patients.

Mark Harrap at the restored Fulbrook Centre golf course

Mark Harrap spent his day off fixing the 10-hole circuit at the Fulbrook Centre, based at the Churchill Hospital, Headington, Oxford, where he has worked since leaving 28 Engineers Regiment in December.

The former logistics storeman, who spent a month near Basra nearly a year ago, was incensed by thugs who ripped up the golf course, which is used by elderly patients suffering conditions like Alzheimer's disease and depression.

Mr Harrap, 25, of Leafield, near Witney, said: "It's not right, what these vandals did.

"I don't understand why people haven't anything better to do with their time. It's just awful that they did it to a service used by elderly people. I thought I would mend it for them."

Together with his brother-in-law, Antonio Aniello, 21, he straightened all the metal pieces broken by the vandals and screwed them back together.

The golf course was built to help patients socialise and get fresh air.

Senior occupational therapist Carolyne Buttolph had called it "mindless violence" when vandals ripped it apart in December.

Talking about Mr Harrap and Mr Aniello's good deed, she said: "I came back and found that these sweet, lovely men had mended it all. I can't believe how nice it was of them to do this."

She said the course still needed to be levelled out so patients could use it again in the spring, when the weather improved.

Ms Buttolph said the Oxford Round Table had offered to give some money to make the course even more enjoyable.