?Shocked? that flowers were taken from grave

AN OKEHAMPTON woman says she was ?gutted? to discover flowers had disappeared from her mother?s grave in Okehampton cemetery.

Diana Moore, from Okehampton, said she believed callous thieves must have stolen the flowers from the grave.

Mrs Moore said she went up to visit her mother?s grave in the designated crematorium area on Sunday, September 19, as she has done regularly for the last four years. She said she was shocked to see the flowers she had placed there had disappeared.

?The grave was absolutely bare, the flowers had been taken, I was very upset.?

Mrs Moore said this was not the first time flowers had been taken from graves at the cemetery. ?It is not right, people should have respect,? she said.

Mrs Moore said she did not know who would do such a thing, but she said she felt other people with relatives buried at the graveyard should be aware of the problem.

Okehampton town clerk Don Bent said this was the first incident he had heard of where flowers had disappeared from graves in Okehampton.

?If flowers have been stolen, I find it a bit sad and sick,? he said. ?Certainly, none of our staff who ensure the upkeep of the cemetery would have taken any flowers away from a grave.?