The devastated dad of a stillborn baby whose name is immortalised on a vandalised Scots memorial has slammed the sick vandals for "stirring up a lot of pain."
Sickening graffiti was sprayed across Dunfermline Cemetery on Halbeath Road in Fife on Saturday morning, sparking a major police probe.
A message saying '1 less rat' was written on a tribute at the Snowdrop Memorial Garden for stillborn and neonatal deaths, which read 'For All Our Babies Briefly Known Forever Loved'.
Dad-of-two Ian Stewart, from Rosyth, was "taken aback with emotion" when he saw the vandalism - on what he has described as a "very emotional day".
In 2004 Ian and his wife Claire were expecting their first child when tragedy struck.
Ian, 42, told the Record: "It will be 17 years in June since what should have been the best day of my life, the birth of my first child, became the worst.
"For some of us we don’t have many photos or keepsakes. For some of us these gardens and memorial stones are all we have. A place to remember. Sadly some of the only proof that our children existed."
On June 17, 2004, Benjamin Stewart was premature - and stillborn.
Benjamin's name is immortalised at the Snowdrop Garden in Dunfermline and Ian, Claire and their two children Duncan, 12, and Faith, five, regularly come and visit the memorial.
Ian, originally from Inverness, said: "When I first saw the posts and reports of the damage and vandalism I was taken aback with emotion.
"After 17 years you’ve done all the firsts - birthdays, Christmas etc - so when something so unnecessary and disgusting like this happens it really brings up and stirs up a lot of pain.
"To lose anyone you love is hard but for a parent to bury their child seems like the biggest injustice in the world.
"This vandalism doesn’t hurt as much as losing Benjamin but it certainly has opened some very old, painful wounds.
"Stillbirth sadly is still something of a taboo subject. I think that’s why these gardens are so important to families.
"Our children have a place in the world, there is something to say they were loved and valued and that their lives were precious, however short they were.
"Those words on the stones may be simple but they mean and say so much 'For all our babies, briefly known, forever loved'".
Kind-hearted locals cleaned up the sickening graffiti which was daubed all over the cemetery just hours after it was spotted.
Further down in the graveyard the sick vandal wrote anti-pandemic messages on gravestones including 'Reaction', and 'Covid Hoax' on another.
Another gravestone, beside which flowers had been placed, was spray painted with 'Scum'.
Ian added: "If it is 'adults' that did this, you need to have a long hard look in the mirror and ask yourself where you went wrong in life.
"If it’s your kids, then you need to have and even harder look at yourself."
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "Around 10.05 am on Saturday, 1 May, 2021, police were contacted with regard to a vandalism at a baby memorial within Dunfermline Cemetery, Halbeath Road, Dunfermline.
"Officers have attended and the graffiti has been removed.
"Enquiries, which are at a very early stage, are continuing."
Fife Council have been contacted for comment.
