The young yobs tore up wooden crosses, smashed a headstone and threw flowers around at Posbrook Lane Cemetery, Titchfield.

An alarmed member of the public dialled 999 after seeing the boys run riot in the cemetery at around 6pm on Tuesday.

Police found the pair and reprimanded them – but the boys cannot be prosecuted as they are under 10, the age of criminal responsibility.

Most of the damage was cleared up on the evening by council staff, but a cross-shaped headstone on one tomb had been snapped at its base and broken into two and was left lying on the ground.

Sergeant Amanda Wilson, from the safer neighbourhood policing team, said: 'It is a one-off incident – it seems to have been a moment of madness by the boys, and it's not directed at anyone in particular.

'The two boys concerned have been given a very stern talking to, and hopefully they will have learnt their lesson and now know that a cemetery is not an appropriate place to play around in.'

Officers have also spoken to the parents of the boys, who are both from the Titchfield area, and offered support and advice to the families.

Councillor Arthur Mandry, who is in charge of public protection for Fareham, said: 'It is regrettable – if you asked either of those children before this if something like this was wrong, both of them would have said yes.

'Children are generally good, but I think in this case they got carried away.

'It's going to be very sad for the relatives of the people involved, and the desecration of graves is something that people find very offensive, but I would hope that even the boys' parents will be distraught about it.

'People like to be able to go to the cemeteries at the time of their choosing, and that cemetery is accessible around the clock – you can't turn a cemetery into a stockade, and nor would we want to just because of a pair of errant kids.'

The Titchfield safer neighbourhoods team would now like to identify and hear from any families whose loved ones' graves were damaged.

They can be contacted at Park Gate police station by calling 101.