ransack

It sat vacant for over 20 years, while animal and human scavengers ransacked the ten-acre site and claimed it for their own, before it was rescued in the 1990s by architectural preservationists.

Buildings have burnt down, homes have been looted and ransacked, and politicians have been dragged from their houses and beaten.

Thousands have taken to the streets in major cities in the last week, joined at times by rioters setting fire to government buildings and looters ransacking the homes of politicians.

What to make of the Cherries now the defence that served them so well has been ransacked?

Four teenagers have been arrested over a burglary that left actor Brad Pitt's home ransacked, police said.