A MOTHER has hit out at vandals who trampled over a family grave destroying flowers and stealing candles.

Miss Paula Mason (25), of Kershaw Street, learned of the desecration in Bury Cemetery after a shocked relative went to pay her respects on Wednesday.

The grave belongs to Dziadek Slobodzian who died last September, the grandfather of Miss Mason's partner Wayne.

The mother-of-two said: "We usually go down every week and this time the candles had been taken and there were just flowers everywhere. It was not just the one grave it was the whole plot.

"It is very distressing to have to go through seeing this and it is a very sore subject in our lives at the moment. It is now just over a year since he passed away and my partner and his dad are too distressed to talk about it." She claims it is not the first time this has happened and blames youngsters who use the cemetery as a football pitch Lanterns, used to mark the grave before the headstone was installed, were also taken on a previous occasion.

"Now this has happened again something has to be done about it. When we go down, there are always children messing around and we spend a lot of time telling them to go and play somewhere else. It is not a play area and it not a nice thing for people to see," she added. "We have just had the gravestone put down and it is only a matter of time before they destroy that. It might only be kids but they are still vandals."

A council spokesman apologised for the upset caused by the vandals and said: "Although this may not have been caused by young people, it should be emphasised that the playing of ball games or similar activities are prohibited. This is enforced by our own security staff who patrol cemeteries around the borough on a regular basis."

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