Locals in Fife were angered after graffiti was scrawled on a memorial for babies at a cemetery in Dunfermline.
One mum whose son is buried in the memorial garden attended the cemetery to clean the graffiti with her family.
A picture shared by Fife Jammer Locations showed vile messages left on a memorial stone at the cemetery on Halbeath Road in Dunfermline.
The memorial reads that is for “all our babies briefly known forever loved”, and is part of a small memorial garden at the cemetery.
Local residents reacted with fury at the picture, with some calling on parents to ask where their children were last night.
One mum said: “As the mum of two babies buried locally I appreciate how important their resting place is, so my heart goes out to the parents of the babies whose memorial this is. Absolutely heartbreaking.”
‘Evil’
Another furious local said: “Absolutely disgraceful, no excuse suitable for a crime like this. I hope they find the culprit/s. Thinking of the poor families and their lost ones.”
A third person said: “My thoughts with the loved ones of those who have been disrespected in the cruelest of ways.
“I wonder what on earth happened to someone to make them so evil as to do such a thing.”
Fife Council and Police Scotland have been contacted for comment.
Another local man, George Duncan, said: “Lived in Dunfermline all my life, hunted rabbits in the woods around the crem when I was younger and hung around in the woods when we were teenagers – never would we have done something like this in our day – what is wrong with them?”
When I seen it was a kids memorial I had to go and sort the issue
Other graves in the cemetery were also vandalised, with messaged written on a number of headstones.
Local man Ronnie MacDonald, who owns a drive cleaning business, helped with the clean-up operation.
He told The Courier: “I have my own driveway cleaning company and a had graffiti remover. My partner showed me the pictures and when I seen it was a kids memorial I had to go and sort the issue. Then there were another six defaced further along.”
Alan Paul, Property Services Senior Manager, said: “This is the most heartless and despicable thing we have seen in Fife in a long time.
“The loss of a baby or child is devastating and to see these memorials tarnished in this way will be heart- breaking for the parents affected.
“We have already removed all the graffiti.
“I hope anyone who has any information on who may have done this will come forward to Police Scotland. ”
It is the second time in recent years the marble stone at the cemetery has been vandalised.
In May 2020, one local gran was left devastated after discovering the stone, which bears her grandson’s name, had been vandalised.