UK babies' graves desecrated

BRISTOL, England -- Police are studying security camera footage after 150 children's graves were desecrated by vandals in southwest England.

Flowers were strewn on the ground and mementos such as teddy bears and ornaments broken during the rampage during the weekend.

Some of the grieving parents were visiting the baby section of South Bristol Crematorium and Cemetery in western England on Monday to see the damage for themselves.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police told Reuters. "We are dealing with a large number of distressed parents."

Distraught father Paul Young, whose stillborn son Jack's grave was damaged, told the UK's Press Association: "I can forgive many things, but I do hope the people that did this roast in hell. There's absolutely no excuse for it."

Local vicar, the Reverend John Lewis, added: "This is heartbreaking. People have suffered enough in the first place when their children died.

"Now all the wounds have been opened again and they are now going to be stabbed with pain again."

Most of the headstones remained undamaged in the attack.

Police are checking CCTV pictures and are keen to speak to two teenage boys seen climbing over the fence of the cemetery at 7.50 p.m. (1850 GMT) on Saturday, 20 minutes after the closure of the gates.

Several of the graves are believed to have belonged to children who died after heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

The hospital was at the centre of a scandal after an official report found up to 35 babies died there unnecessarily between 1991 and 1995 because of alleged substandard care.