A Moray family have hit out at thieves who have plundered graveside flowers and ornaments from a loved one in recent months.
Rosemary McLeod’s husband William, daughter Lesley and granddaughter Lyndsay have regularly left floral displays and sentimental items at the Lossiemouth cemetery since her death October 2017.
However, within the last two months the family have noticed the tributes have started to go missing – including a hefty granite stone used to hold flowers.
The disappearances culminated last week when a bouquet left at the Oakenhead Woods graveside to mark Mr and Mrs McLeod’s wedding anniversary disappeared within a day.
The family is now convinced thieves are targeting the cemetery after learning of items going missing from other plots and want to warn others about the suspected thefts.
Granddaughter Lyndsay Broadley, who lives in Kinloss, said: “It’s been so upsetting. We thought maybe they had just been moved but we’ve looked all over the cemetery and can’t see them.
“We’ve left things like little angels and butterflies so they’re quite distinctive. We’ve looked in the bins too.
“It’s just so upsetting, I don’t know how people can take from the dead. It’s a nice cemetery, people spend time and effort making it look presentable and then things like this happen.”
Mrs McLeod, who was 78 when she died about two years ago, lived in Elgin before retiring to Lossiemouth with her husband.
The family has also heard of items going missing from a nearby grave in the cemetery while a miniature Christmas tree was also reported missing last month.
Daughter Lesley Law said: “The only comfort that we’ve taken is that it’s happening to other people too, not that it’s nice to happen to anybody. We’re just glad it doesn’t appear to be a personal thing against us.
“I don’t know who would do this, they obviously need some kind of help because I don’t understand why you would want to do this.
Miss Broadley added: “They aren’t expensive things, we’ve put them down because they’re sentimental and mean something to us.
“There’s nothing for anybody to get out of it.”
