Tributes stolen from child’s grave
IMAGINE the pain of not only losing your 10-year-old brother, but having things you leave at his grave stolen repeatedly.
Sadly, that it the reality for Hounslow woman Tayo Andoh.
She lost her little brother Leon suddenly in 2009, and since they buried him over a decade ago his grave, in New Brentford Cemetery, has been robbed three times.
Tayo said: “Theft at his grave has now happened on three occasions with the latest discovery being today and it sickens me.
“Every time my mum and I have visited his grave artificial flowers have gone missing and ornaments have been knocked over, including his football trophy and angel ornaments.
“My mum and I left a lovely arrangement of flowers on Easter Sunday and we returned today to find that they have gone and all of his ornaments knocked over.
“This has distressed us greatly and we don’t understand how anyone could be so cruel as to steal from a child’s grave.”
She went on to describe how she felt the graveyard itself is possibly part of the problem, and that it is not kept well at all.
Tayo said in the past maintenance men would break ornaments on the young boy’s grave while cutting the grass, leaving it a mess, and that there’s no apparent caretaker.
She added: “It’s basically abandoned, which makes this even worse and harder for us to get any help with the theft incidents.
“I feel this should be investigated, it’s very apparent that this is a problem. Theft at a grave, not to mention a little boy’s grave, is outrageous.”
Councillor Samia Chaudhary, Cabinet Member for Parks and Leisure Services at Hounslow Council, said: “I know the New Brentford Cemetery in Sutton Lane very well have visited it several times.
“Clearly if this particular grave has been deliberately targeted and then subsequently vandalised, it is a criminal offence.
“We take any complaints about cemeteries and individual graves extremely seriously and our cemeteries team will be looking into this situation as a matter of urgency.”
This has distressed us greatly and we don’t understand how anyone could be so cruel as to steal from a child’s grave.