Lantern is stolen from woman's grave in Coventry

A daughter has been left “upset and sickened” after a candlelit lantern left at the grave of her mother was stolen from a Coventry cemetery.



Anna Litchfield said she couldn’t believe someone would target her mother Anna Corolan’s grave at Lentons Lane Cemetery and said others nearby had also had lanterns stolen.

Coventry City Council said work had been undertaken over the past few days to level the surface of the graves but said any items had been replaced immediately.

Anna, aged 52, from Bell Green, whose mother Anna died in January 2013, aged 79, said: “I had placed a lit lantern at my mother’s grave on the Saturday and then went up to her grave on the Tuesday.

“The lantern had been removed and the candle itself left on the floor.

“I looked at other graves and quite a number had also had their lanterns removed with just the candle left.

“It was very upsetting to think someone could stoop so low to steal these lanterns from a grave.

“It has really upset and sickened me.”

Graham Hood, head of Streetpride, Greenspaces and Noise, at Coventry City Council said: “The Bereavement Service has not removed any memorabilia from graves at Lentons Lane Cemetery.

“Work has been undertaken over the past few days to level the surface of a number of graves which have sunk slightly but we have ensured that any memorabilia has been replaced immediately.”

Anna added: “If the workers had temporarily moved them while they carried out the work they would have been put back with the lanterns and candles inside.

“The lanterns wouldn’t have been removed and the candles left.

“I think these lanterns have been stolen.

“It really is people stooping to the lowest level possible.”

I'm not religious in any way, but I find this very distasteful.

A cruel thief stole a widow’s handbag containing a lock of her husband’s hair as she stood tending to his grave.



Bev Chambers has been left devastated after also losing treasured photos from when she first met her husband of 47 years, James.

The mementoes had been kept in a black bag which was taken after someone smashed the window of their daughter’s BMW at Coventry’s Lentons Lane Cemetery.

Peugeot worker James passed away aged 65 last May, and Bev, 67, visits his grave every Sunday.

Bev had forgotten she had left the bag behind which also contained £550 cash, some of which was birthday money and the rest was for bills and food.

Daughter Michele Sargent, 46, a senior children’s carer, said: “There are some wicked people out there to do something like that.

“They should hand these things back because they don’t mean anything to them. They’re personal items.

“This has made her poorly, she’s absolutely devastated.

“She’s got the guilt of leaving the bag in the first place. She also feels numb that somebody could do such a wicked thing in a cemetery where people are grieving.

“They don’t realise the impact this has had.”

A lock of James’ hair had been sealed in an envelope which Bev has carried since his death.

Bev, a retired mental health support worker, who lives in Coventry, also lost a souvenir keyring from the couple’s final holiday together to Israel and a purse which was the last present bought for her by James.

Nothing has been recovered from the theft which happened at about 4.30pm on Sunday.

Michele had parked in the car park which is only about a three-minute walk from her dad’s grave.

She said: “Nobody saw it at all and we never even heard anything.”

In future Michele said she would park beside the grave.

The Telegraph has reported how scores of burial plots at the graveyard in the north of the city have been left under several inches of water following recent wet weather.

As well as breaking the front passenger window, paintwork was also damaged in the theft.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “There may well be a chance someone’s actually seen this happen.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the investigation team at Coventry Police on 101 extension number 8343019.

Real reason explained as to why CCTV rejected at city cemetery



The real reason behind the decision to not install CCTV at a cemetery in Coventry has been revealed.

In a report out this week in response to a petition for CCTV to be installed at Lentons Lane cemetery, the decision was made to not have them.

A number of items had been taken from baby graves in the cemetery before Christmas.

Nicola Wilson, whose son’s grave had items stolen from it last September, was one of numerous people complaining of thefts.

She then started a petition for CCTV to be installed at the cemetery.

A total of 474 signatures were submitted to Coventry City Council shortly before Christmas.

The decision was made to reject the CCTV on privacy grounds.

However, Cllr Jayne Innes has said it would intrude on people’s grieving.

Cllr Innes also told the Telegraph despite there being a number of incidents reported, it was still relatively low for the number of graves in the city.

She added: “We had 37 incidents reported across the cemeteries in Coventry in 12 months.

“If you think about the number of graves, that is a small number.

“CCTV is the wrong solution.

“We want to protect the people grieving.”

Yeah, right!