This is the shocking moment a "miserable git" smashed a five-year-old boy's snowman to bits - leaving him heartbroken."

Furious dad Steve Curtis, 35, was gobsmacked after catching the elderly man hacking the 4ft-high figure apart with a shovel.

The doting dad had spent 45 minutes building the frosty friend outside his home as a surprise for little Jacob, after someone had already knocked down the lad's first attempt.

Steve said: "After the heavy snow, Jacob wanted to build a snowman outside."

"It took about 45 minutes to make and it stood proudly on the pavement by the front door."

But when they returned from a walk into town, Jacob's snowman was gone.

Steve added: "He was upset so as a surprise I thought I'd rebuild one and called it the ‘snow child'."

Determined to protect his masterpiece, Steve set up his phone to film the snowman.

But when he checked the footage on Monday (5/1) afternoon, he was stunned.

At 2.45pm, the pensioner can be seen clearing snow from around his car - before strolling over and slicing the snowman's head clean off with his shovel.

Seconds later, the rest is reduced to slush.

Steve fumed: "When I finished work and came home I couldn't believe it had happened again."

"What kind of miserable git deliberately destroys a little lad's snowman?"

Heartbroken Jacob even made a wooden cross for the spot where his snowman once stood.

Steve added: "The snowman was nowhere near his car, it wasn't doing any harm. It's hard to know what he was thinking."

After posting the footage of the attack on social media, Steve was deluged with comments of support from outraged users.

One user blasted: "Nasty man, should be named and shamed!"

Another warned: "Nooooooooo !!! That's really not going to be good for karmic energy is it??? What an absolutely gorgeous little snowman too!"