Scores of youngsters were left upset after their nursery’s Christmas lights were vandalised for the second year in a row.

The Happy Days playgroup’s display, which includes a reindeer and Father Christmas, are a highlight of the festive season for the village of Iwade.

However, for the second year running, they have been left damaged beyond repair in a night-time wrecking spree.

Last year all the lights, which cover the lawn, were stolen, with nursery owner Sue McGoldrick paying for more out of her own pocket.

She arrived at work on Monday morning to find the metal box which they built to cover the plug sockets had been smashed and the wires inside severed.

All of the ornaments had been dragged across the lawn and left on the driveway.

The nursey is now planning to install CCTV to try and deter the culprit from coming back.

Mrs McGoldrick, who runs the nursery with her daughter Collette Pridmore, said: “It has only been a week since we put them up. “It’s a children’s nursery, you can see it’s a children’s nursery – it’s horrible.

“The kids are really disappointed and so are the parents – it’s just so mean spirited.

“Christmas is such a big thing for them, they were so excited and now it has all fallen flat.

“It is also the whole village. All the children in Iwade say Christmas starts when Happy Days puts up its lights.”

The crime has provoked anger from many in the village.

Iwade parish councillor James Hunt, who helped switch on the lights at the end of November, said: “Someone has come along and ruined it for the village and the children. This year the parish council joined up with them to do the switch-on and it is a festive highlight – I’m very angry.”

Despite the damage, the nursery has chosen not to report the incident to the police.