A candidate at the General Election was left shocked after vandals urinated on her hall carpet.

Julia Gasper, who stood as a UKIP candidate in Oxford East, said she believed she had been targeted because of her political beliefs.

She discovered the attack at her home in Trinity Road, Headington, on Polling Day.

She said: “I noticed a nasty smell and I couldn’t account for it.”

Dr Gasper later discovered it was urine on the hall carpet and, despite washing the area three times, she said the carpet may need to be replaced. She said she had left the front door open and was probably in the back garden when the attack happened at about midday last Thursday. She added: “It has to be connected with my standing as a candidate. I had lots of posters in my front garden and the fact it happened on polling day is a huge coincidence.”

Dr Gasper, who finished fifth in the Oxford East poll, said the attack had not put her off standing again. She said: “Next time I will put signs up saying ‘CCTV in operation’ and I will have to be more careful.”

Police are treating the incident as criminal damage.

Anyone with information should call 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.