Linda McCartney memorial wood is destroyed by disease "Some of them were diseased and it was decided that the larch would be chopped down as a preventative measure," said Joe Duckworth, of the League Against Cruel Sports, which runs the woodland near Dulverton. Lots of larch in the area are being chopped down. The Forestry Commission announced in December that it was to fell at least 11,000 infected trees near Bodmin in Cornwall to try to halt the spread of sudden oak death disease. It said the disease could destroy oaks and other tree species across Britain. During the dedication and naming ceremony for Linda's Wood in 1998, children laid posies of flowers by the trees and the Salvation Army played music by Wings, the pop group of which the couple were members. Sir Paul then handed the woodland over to the league to manage as part of its deer sanctuary, which borders Exmoor National Park and is run in an attempt to protect deer from the stag hunts in the area. But the wood has been the target of a number of vandals. In an early incident, a wooden plaque that was erected to list the names of the people involved in planting the trees had to be removed after it was vandalised. Then in 2003, vandals took a chainsaw to gates and fencing in the wood and caused damage in St John's Wood. They were described as "sad and sick" by the league, a charity supported by Sir Paul, who was knighted in 1997, and his wife. Linda was an outspoken advocate of animal rights and founded a successful vegetarian food company. In 2000, a quad bike was driven through Linda's Wood, flattening 40 newly planted trees. "It was like going into a cemetery and kicking over the gravestones," said Graham Sirl, of the league. The organisation was keen to pin the blame for the incidents, which were reported to the police, on what it described as extremist hunt supporters. The McCartneys were married for 29 years. Four years after Linda's death, Sir Paul married Heather Mills, a former topless model and anti-landmines campaigner. They divorced in 2008. Last October, he married for a third time, to Nancy Shevell, a New Yorker, who had survived breast cancer. The wedding was in London at Marylebone Register Office, where he married Linda in 1969. Sir Paul was unavailable for comment.