A MEMORIAL cross stolen from a grave in Tavistock has been recovered and returned to its rightful place.In May, the Times reported a story about Tavistock woman Sandy McDonald who appealed for information after it was discovered that a memorial cross from her late partner’s grave had been stolen by thieves.

The cross was taken from the grave of Robin Roberts, who is buried in Plymouth Road Cemetery in Tavistock.

Sandy had brought the cross, with the metal figure of Jesus to accompany the headstone, from a stonemason in France.

Readers will be delighted to know that the cross has been found in good shape after the police came across it in Bere Alston Churchyard.

Sandy was devastated when thieves stole the cross back in May.

She said:?‘I think it is someone grown up who has taken it, not kids. It’s marble and heavy so I don’t think it will be kids. It came from France and you can’t get anything like that over here. When I saw it was gone from the grave I felt terrible. It’s just cruel isn’t it. I couldn’t believe it when I saw someone had stolen it.’

After one of Sandy’s friends uploaded a photo of the grave to Facebook along with a story of what happened, the post got shared more 280 times within the first couple of days.

Sandy added:?‘Because of all the media around it — it was all over the Times and Facebook — I guess whoever stole it thought they would dump it somewhere.’

No one is any the wiser to who stole the cross and it’s unlikely that anyone will come forward and admit to it. However, Sandy is delighted to have it back.

She said: ‘We’re going to cement it in place now so that it can’t happen again. I got so many messages from people who knew Robin who couldn’t believe that it had happened, so I’m glad to be able to put it back.’