Scots family devastated after sick vandal rips plaque for dead son off memorial bench

A Scots family have been left devastated after a heartless vandal plied a plaque for their dead son off his memorial bench.

Richard Gilchrist died aged 46 in a tragic motorcycle accident in Dubai two years ago on August 8, 2019.

Originally from Aberdeen, the design engineer had visited his family just two weeks before the tragedy.

His devastated parents requested permission from the council to create a memorial plaque for Richard on his favourite bench in Cove, which overlooks the sea.

Richard was described as "funny and outgoing" by his sister (Rona Gilchrist)

The 46-year-old spent a lot of time at the beauty spot when he visited home, and enjoyed creating drone videos capturing the ocean and surrounding views.

His mum Rona visited the bench to lay flowers for her son’s birthday on Friday but was left devastated when she realised his engraved sign had been removed.

Richard’s sister Wendy told the Record: "My mum went down the other day to put flowers down as it was his birthday and she was really upset to find the plaque wasn’t there.

"It has definitely been removed. It couldn’t have fallen off, its stuck on with glue and screwed in.

Richard's bench before the plaque was removed (Rona Gilchrist)

"Mum phoned me really teary and my dad who usually keeps everything to himself was so upset.

"It's the one place my mum likes to go to feel close to him and someone has destroyed it.

“Why would someone do that?”

Richard grew up in Aberdeen but had lived and worked in UAE for a decade.

Speaking of Richard's death, Wendy said: "It was awful - it took us three weeks to get him home as he died in Dubai and then we couldn’t see him because it had been so long.

Richard's mum discovered the plaque had been removed last week (Rona Gilchrist)

"He was lovely, such a funny, outgoing guy. He was enjoying life to the full and would have done anything for anybody. Nobody had a bad thing to say about him.

A memorial was created in Dubai for Richard and friends planted a palm tree in his memory.

But his two sisters Wendy and Leeane and brother David say they have been left heartbroken that someone in his hometown would vandalise his memorial on Scottish soil.

Richard tragically died in a motorbike accident in Dubai (Rona Gilchrist)

Wendy continued: "He was here two weeks before he died and he sat on that bench and looked out at the sea - he loved it.
"He had a drone and used to sit there for hours filming.”

The family plan to restore Richard’s memorial as police continue to probe the heartless theft.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said they were aware of the incident.