Flowers stolen from loved ones graves at Pitsea Cemetery

Thomas Latchford, 69, from Basildon was left “devastated” when he arrived at Pitsea Cemetery on Thursday to find flowers he had laid on his wife and daughter’s graves had been stolen.

Thomas’ wife, Jennifer, and daughter, Donna, are buried next to each other at the cemetery in Bowers Gifford, with the family regularly visiting to pay their respects and lay flowers.

Mr Latchford said: “I was devastated. I just couldn’t believe that someone would want to do something like that.

“We put the flowers there on Monday for my daughter’s birthday and they disappeared on Thursday.

“There’s nothing else we can do for them than to buy flowers and lay them on their grave.

“It makes you think when the next occasion comes around what are we going to do because we want to do something but we don’t want this to happen.

“When you first see it you just can’t believe it.

“I go back there hoping someone has put them back but they haven’t. It shouldn’t be like that.”

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Mr Latchford is hoping to raise awareness of the cruel act to try to prevent other families going through the same shock, admitting there’s not much the cemetery can do to stop this from happening.

He added: “We try to keep flowers there all the time because my wife loved flowers.

“We were really shocked. I came home and it just broke my heart.

“There’s not a lot that the cemetery can do. They already have CCTV cameras.

“These people are just the lowest of the low.”

Deputy mayor of Basildon Council, Luke Mackenzie said: “It’s always sad to see an incident like this.

“Unfortunately there are people out there who have no decency or morals. These are the type of people to steal flowers from graves and probably charity boxes too.

“There’s no place for them in our society.

“Anyone doing these sorts of things should consider how they would feel if this was one of their loved ones.”