Mourners told: Chain wreaths to graves or they’ll get stolen
MOURNERS are being warned to chain up wreaths and floral tributes in a cemetery – because thieves steal them to sell on as Christmas decorations.
Police in Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, have advised chaining wreaths to the graves or marking them with ultraviolet pens.
More than 130 wreaths were stolen from the town’s cemetery over the past two winters.
Thieves are thought to sell them as Christmas wreaths at markets or roadsides.
Officers said that other locals had decided not to lay their wreaths until Christmas Eve.
Inspector David Malin, from Warwickshire Police, said: ‘We think that because of the large numbers that are being stolen, they are either being taken to Christmas markets somewhere to be sold or sold at the side of the road.
‘It’s very sad that people have to do this, it’s such a shame that the actions of criminals have led us to issue this advice.’ He said that tying them up acted as a deterrent because ‘if you were going to a cemetery in the middle of the night to steal them you would want to pick them up as quickly as possible, you wouldn’t want to mess around with untying them from things’.
The parish council has also installed 6ft gates at the entrance and limited access to the cemetery to daylight hours in a bid to stop thieves raiding the graves at night. Elisabeth Uggerloese, clerk at Bidford-on-Avon Parish Council, said: ‘It’s a very sad situation to be in where we have to put these measures in place.’