West Lynn woman's anguish after ornament stolen from baby’s grave in Clenchwarton

A West Lynn woman has described her shock after an ornament was stolen from her daughter’s grave.

Lisa Wells, 46, said the stone ornament, of a child angel leaning forward with its legs partly crossed, had been cemented on to her daughter Shelby White’s grave in the cemetery at St Margaret’s Church in Clenchwarton.

Mrs Wells said: “I don’t know what possesses people to do this. It’s bad enough to take it off but they have rooted around where she is laying. It’s caused me a lot of stress.”

The family discovered that the ornament, which is of more sentimental value than monetary, as it cost around £30, had been stolen on Wednesday, when Mrs Wells’ mother visited the grave to take some flowers.

It has come at a particularly difficult time for the family, as today marks the anniversary of Shelby’s death.

Shelby, who has been buried in the graveyard for 26 years, had spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a genetic disease affecting the part of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movement, and died aged 13 months.

Mrs Wells said she believes whoever has stolen the ornament, which was fixed to the grave about 15 years ago using a special granite glue, used considerable force to take it off the headstone.

“My husband, who is a stonemason, said they must have really gone at it to move it,” she added.

While Mrs Wells has reported the incident to the police, she does not believe there is much that they will be able to do without CCTV footage or witnesses.

She is calling for more to be done to prevent this kind of behaviour, though.

“People shouldn’t be allowed to do this. This will push me forward, I can’t just sit there and do nothing, there’s other children in that cemetery,” she said.

“Whatever age group you are, this is a child, a baby. What’s going to be next? It’s just awful.”