Worthing child's toy destroyed by vandals

Eloise, just three years old, was with her family in Palatine Park when her cuddly friend Milo, a character from the 1990s children's TV show The Tweenies, was snatched from the basket on the back of her bike.

Her mum Mandy did a frantic search of the park and was horrified when she discovered Milo ripped to shreds near some goal posts '“ the exact spot where five teenagers had been standing around the time it went missing.

Eloise was left in tears and now walks around with all that remains of Milo, the arms and foam stuffing.

Mandy, who lives with husband Martin, Eloise, and 18-month-old Emilie in Terringes Avenue, Tarring, said: "How could anyone do such a thing? Eloise burst into tears and I feel bad because of how upset she was. I really wish she hadn't been there when I found it.

"She is a brave little girl and is trying to keep her chin up, but she now walks around with what's left of the toy. When we got home she told my husband some naughty boys had broken it."

When the incident happened on Wednesday, September 12, it was very quiet, apart from a few men playing football and five teenagers, who were hanging from the goal posts.

They walked past the gang, made up of four boys and a girl, on their way to the swings.

It was when Eloise parked her bike up that they noticed Milo was missing.

Mandy, 38, said: "We re-traced our steps but couldn't see anything. I asked some of the people in the park to give me a wave if they came across it.

"We then arrived back at the goal posts where the kids had been and I found Milo on the ground. The kids had gone by then.

"I don't want to accuse anyone but I suspect it was them who did it. I have been back down to the park since to check in the bushes and see if I can find the rest of him, but haven't."

Milo was part of Eloise's set of all four Tweenies characters and they had been passed down by a relative.

The toys, which are about 28 inches in height each, are now very hard to come by. But luckily, her grandma managed to find a second-hand Milo at a car boot sale at the weekend.

When Mandy went back to the park on Monday, September 17 she found a few more bits of the original Milo, but his legs and clothes are still missing.

Have your say

What do you think about what happened to Eloise's toy?

Is this what people expect from some groups of teenagers these days?

Let us know, leave your comments in the space below.