A grieving family from Battersea devastated by the death of one of their five-month-old twin sons was horrified to discover floral tributes had been vandalised the day after the funeral.

Julia Sullivan, 27, and her partner Barry Morgan, 38, visited Lambeth Cemetery in Blackshaw Road, Tooting, on November 9 to collect flowers to take home as a memory of their son Mitchell who died after contracting meningitis.

But on their arrival they discovered the flowers had been callously strewn around and destroyed by vandals who had broken into the cemetery during the night.

Ms Sullivan, of Saltburn House, said: "I just couldn't believe it. There were flowers everywhere. I thought who would want to do such a thing?'. It's really beyond belief someone could take pleasure in wrecking Mitchell's memory."

She added: "The funeral and those flowers were our last memory of him and they've been ruined by people with no thought for anyone else's feelings."

A spokesman for Lambeth Council, which runs the cemetery, said: "It was just a thoughtless act by mindless vandals and our sincerest sympathies go out to the families affected."

The spokesman added CCTV did not cover the floral tribute area and said incidents of this kind were rare.

Mrs Sullivan, who has five other children including Mitchell's twin brother Morgan, added: "I would just like to say to these people, how would you feel if it was your brother or son whose memory had been tarnished in this way?'. I just hope it was young kids, because if it was anyone above a certain age, then that's really sick."

November 16, 2001 11:32