A mother says vandals are causing heartbreak after her baby's gravestone was destroyed at Hawkinge Cemetery.

Natalie Snape, from Folkestone, runs the charity Devlin's Babies in honour of her son Devlin - who died when he was just five days old.

Now she is calling for more to be done to help prevent damage in the future after Devlin's grave was targeted twice.

She said: "I just don't see what the joy of it is. People pay good money for these headstones and they're getting destroyed.

"It's bad enough to lose a child, but for their resting place to get destroyed as well is heartbreaking.

"There were bits of headstones on the road. It looked as though people had kicked my son's toys away that were on his grave.

"This is the second time my son has had his destroyed. I just want people to be aware now because it's happening too much."

Mrs Snape, of Dallas Brett Crescent, started Devlin's Babies to support bereaved families who have lost children and struggle to meet the costs of funeral care and gravestones.

She has been contacted by other parents to say their graves have also been destroyed or vandalised.

It then falls on the charity to help raise funds to cover the costs - and one of the families affected by recent vandalism has been quoted £1,500.

Mrs Snape said: "I've got to raise £1,500 for the lady. When it comes to children's and babies' graves you get no help from the government."

She claimed despite speaking to staff at the cemetery, very little is being done to prevent it from happening.

She said: "I spoke to them and all I got was they were looking into it. Two weeks later they were still there.

"They've thanked me for telling them, but there seems to be a lack of communication.

"All we are asking for is to put up more cameras and close the cemetery at night."

Shepway District Council's cemeteries office says it has begun to take action after being contacted by Mrs Snape.

A council spokesman said: "We have not received any reports of vandalism to headstones in our cemeteries in the last few months.

"Usually, if any headstones are damaged the owners or relatives will contact us. Cemetery workers also report any damage that they see.

"Obviously we cannot refute what Mrs Snape has been told, but we would ask her, when she sees the damage for herself, to report it to us with as much detail as she can.

"We have received an email from Mrs Snape and have asked her for more details so that we can investigate."

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