A GRIEVING daughter has slammed grave robbers who stole jewellery from her father's headstone, saying they should "rot in hell" for their crime.
Dawn Brown said the thieves had left her feeling "down right disgusted" after they twice took items she had left hanging on her father's grave in Chaddesden.
The 45-year-old said she was still feeling the pain of losing her father, Frederick Taylor, who she found dead at his home in Radnor Street, Chaddesden, on January 28. The 69-year-old had suffered a heart attack and was buried in Nottingham Road cemetery on February 11.
Mrs Brown has tended to his grave four times a week but was left shocked after first a gold chain her father bought for her was taken and then replacement rosary beads were stolen.
She said: "My father and I were very close and I am still coming to terms with losing him. For something like this to happen at a time of grieving is nothing short of downright disgusting.
"I think people who steal from graves are the lowest of the low, I cannot work out why they would even consider taking something that has been left as a mark of respect and remembrance for a loved one.
"I hope whoever has done this rots in hell."
Mrs Brown, of Ennis Close, Chaddesden, said the gold chain was stolen in April and she noticed the beads she had taken to Mr Taylor's headstone were gone when she went to tend the grave on Saturday(10).
She has reported the thefts to the police and hopes that an appeal in the media "tugs at someone's heart strings" and they are returned.
Mrs Brown said: "My father bought the gold chain for me as a gift three or four years ago. He did not have much money, and it was not expensive, but it has huge sentimental value to me.
"Whoever has taken it won't have got very much money for it, but it means a great deal to me because of my close relationship with my father."
In January, the gravestone of Carmela Bonito was desecrated at the cemetery.
Her daughter, Maria Woolley, of Allestree, told how the family had been left "distraught" when a bronze statue was ripped from her mother's gravestone.
Julian De Mowbray, head of trading standards and bereavement services at Derby City Council, said: "Despite evening security patrols and gates being locked at dusk, unfortunate events like this happen from time to time at cemeteries across the country.
"Cemetery managers regrettably advise that bereaved families think carefully before leaving anything of material or sentimental value on graves".
A spokesman for Derbyshire police said: "We have been made aware of this latest theft from the cemetery and are making initial inquiries.
"We have spoken to staff at the cemetery but, unfortunately, there is no CCTV for us to view.
"We would urge anyone who knows of the whereabouts of the stolen items to call 101 or report it anonymously and in confidence, to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111."
