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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Matthew Dresch

Widow catches cemetery workers stealing booze from army hero husband's shrine

A widow caught cemetery workers stealing miniature bottles of booze from her husband's grave.

Sue Stott, 50, snared the thieves after installing a £70 hidden camera she bought on Amazon in a tree near her partner David Holmes' tombstone.

Mr Holmes, an Army veteran, collected the bottles while abroad - and his wife left them on his grave as a memento.

She put Army boots, poppies and ceramic soldiers on his memorial, alongside more than 50 miniatures, including Jack Daniel's whisky and Gordon's gin.

Callous graveyard contractors even stole alcohol from the shrine on Remembrance Day.

The 48-year-old was buried in East London Crematorium and Cemetery after he passed away from Motor Neurone Disease in June.

Sue Stott said she was sickened by the thefts (Paul Edwards The Sun)

Ms Stott told The Sun : “When the first few went the cemetery staff said it might be the wind, birds or children.

“I didn’t believe them so installed a £70 camera I bought on Amazon. When I first played the footage I was gobsmacked.

“Two workmen go straight to his grave to steal. It’s so brazen and disrespectful."

He died from Motor Neurone Disease in June (Paul Edwards The Sun)
David Holmes was a former soldier (Paul Edwards The Sun)

The widow said she felt 'sick and angry' after watching the footage - and kept replacing the bottles in a bid to snare the pair.

Dignity Crematorium Ltd, the company in charge of the site, sacked the contractors over the videos and apologised for the distress they had caused.

Ms Stott also told police about the thefts, although she has yet to hear from officers, apart from receiving a crime number.

The widow has left Army boots and other military-related items at the grave (Paul Edwards The Sun)

Her experience comes after George Turnbull started spending his nights in a Sunderland cemetery after a series of attacks on the plots where his wife and parents were buried.

The granddad-of-three spends at least six hours every day by the graves at Castletown Cemetery.

Mr Turnbull, a former care worker who had to give up work because of an enlarged heart, said he started patrolling when keepsakes he left in tribute to his wife, who died in 2015, started to disappear.

He said: "Now, every time I go down to the grave yard I wonder if something will be missing.

"These people are coming and stealing pieces of my Beverley - every ornament has been touched by her or smells like her."

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