A FAMILY are distraught after thieves stole toys and ornaments left on their baby’s grave.

Clare Frear, 28, branded the culprits heartless for taking the items from her son Jayden's grave in Nelson.

Little Jayden was only three weeks and six days old when he died of bronchial pneumonia in September 2012.

His family launched a charity called Jayden’s Legacy: Angels in Heaven to help other children who suffer from the same disease.

The campaign helped pay for Jayden’s headstone at Marsden Lane cemetery, in Nelson.

But two Thomas the Tank Engine toys left to mark what would have been his first birthday, small angels and Christmas snowglobes have been snatched.

Mother-of-three Clare, of Hendon Road, Nelson, said: "I can’t believe anyone would do something like this.

"It’s just so heartless and disrespectful.”

Jayden was born with birth defect on September 1, 2012. Clare, who has two other children, Declan, 10, and Krystal, three, went to feed him his bottle at around 3.50am on September 28, only to find he had stopped breathing and his nose was bleeding.

An ambulance was called which arrived at her home at around 4.20am. He was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital but doctors were unable to save him.

His family organised a sponsored head shave and a fund-raising pub crawl around Colne to raise £300 for the charity.

Clare, who attended Colne Primet High School, said: “We go to visit his grave around four times a week and leave little things there around once a week. At the end of the day he is still my baby and he is still Declan and Krystal’s brother.

“We leave little gifts and things to show we always remember him. The toys were left for his first birthday on September 1.

"We’ve left snow globes as well which have been taken.

“Pretty much every month something seems to go missing, it’s unbelievable. It does seem to be getting worse now though.

“It is awful that Declan and Krystal put little things on Jayden’s grave and then see them get taken. Why would someone do that?”

Coun Tommy Cooney, who represents the Marsden ward in Nelson, said: “This is absolutely shocking to hear.

"I am totally disgusted that someone could do such a thing.

“I will be getting on to the police inspector and checking everything that can be done is being done to catch the criminal who has committed this shocking crime.”

A police spokesman said a report of a theft at the cemetery had been made to them.

Anybody with information is asked to call Lancashire Constabulary on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.