Vandals have destroyed Christmas decorations put up in memory of a brave girl who lost her battle for life this year.

Distraught mother Lisa Heritage could not believe her eyes when she woke on Tuesday to find several decorations stolen, transformers missing and plugs pulled out outside her Gravesend home.

The pretty silhouettes were donated to the family in December 2007 by the caring Gravesham community, after vandals wrecked another display which had been put up especially for terminally-ill Jamie-Leigh Harrington.

Miss Heritage couldn't believe her house has been targeted two years in a row - and just three months after Jamie-Leigh died after a brave, two-year battle with the rare disease lymphangiomatosis.

Lisa, 39, said: “My daughter Rhea first noticed they had gone. She walked to school that day crying. We cannot believe it has happened again. My son’s bike was also stolen just three days after Jamie-Leigh died. Why can’t we just be left alone?”

Lisa, who has three other children, first contacted the Messenger last year after vandals cut wires and stole Jamie-Leigh’s inflatable Santa.

The youngster had asked her parents to put the display up early, having spent last Christmas in hospital.

Determined to fulfil her festive wish, The Gravesend Messenger arranged for an army of volunteers to replace the decorations, complete with real snow, a band, choir and Santa Claus himself, the day after her 11th birthday on December 13.

Nine months later, Jamie-Leigh passed away at home, cradled in her mother’s arms after she took a sudden turn for the worse.