HOW could someone do this?

That is the question bereaved families are asking after vandals wrecked the graves of their young children.

Devastated parents say items on the babies’ graves have been broken while others have been moved or stolen, with toys thrown into nearby bushes.

The damage at Eling Cemetery near Totton was discovered by Sarah Mellors from Eling, whose son Harvey Cooper is buried there.

Harvey’s ashes were interred at the cemetery in May after he died in March, having been born prematurely.

Items such as tiles and windmills were broken and toys were flung into stinging nettles and nearby bushes, while lights were stolen and other items moved.

It is believed the vandals struck on Wednesday or the following morning.

Sarah, 26, told the Daily Echo: “I am just gutted. I am so heartbroken that someone that had touched Harvey’s things without any good intention and someone would cause damage to something that would not even concern them.”

Hannah Evans, 21, from Calmore, said more items on her daughter Marlee-Mae’s grave have been moved since the initial damage was discovered on Thursday.

She said: “I go up there constantly to keep an eye and everyday since it’s happened I find ornaments have been moved.

“It is like someone is trying to play a sick and twisted game.”

Mum-of-one Emma Paddick, 26, from Totton visits the cemetery each week to pay her respects to her stillborn son Harry Claxton-Paddick, who died in November 2014.

She also discovered items moved at her son’s grave.

Emma said: “You would not break a toy of a child’s that alive, how could someone do that to a child who’s dead?”

Emma Hanslip, 33,from Calmore was horrified when she discovered that vandals had stolen lights and thrown toys into nearby bushes from her stillborn son Oliver’s grave.

Emma said: “It is heartbreaking, the first I knew about it I read on a Facebook group and I was absolutely devastated and in tears.

“You do not think anyone would be so disrespectful to do it to anyone’s grave let alone a baby’s.”

New Forest District Council, which owns the cemetery, has helped the families.

Police have stepped up patrols in the area.

Totton councillor David Harrison has called for more security at the cemetery, saying: “I think all we can reasonably do is look at security and ask that the police step up vigilance in the hope that we can prevent any future crimes.

“The perpetrators of the crimes are not giving any thought at all for the distress they have caused.

“Over the years we have had a few incidents of a similar nature, I have had many relatives complain to me about wreaths and flowers being taken from the graves, but this is the first instance involving children’s graves.”

Anyone with information should call Hampshire Constabulary on 101.