CCTV calls after 11-year-old's grave vandalised

The damage at the grave is estimated at about £200

A mother has called for better security at a cemetery after the grave of her 11-year-old daughter was vandalised.

Perri-Leigh Littler said it was "heartbreaking" to find the resting place of her daughter in Stranton Cemetery, Hartlepool, damaged last Tuesday morning.

She has called for better lighting and CCTV cameras at the site.

Hartlepool Borough Council said it deplored the "mindless and distressing vandalism", but installing cameras at the cemetery was not "feasible".

Evie-Leigh died aged 11 in 2022 after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Ms Littler said she decorated the grave for Halloween, Christmas and Easter and nothing had ever been taken from it before.

"I was upset, but I was really, really angry. I just thought, what person would do such a thing?" she said.

"When you go there and see it in such a state, there's no words for it."

Evie-Leigh died in 2022

She added: "People don't understand, unless they've physically lost someone and they're grieving, they don't understand what going to the cemetery means."

The 31-year-old said she was worried it could happen again and called for CCTV cameras to be placed at the site.

But Hartlepool Borough Council said it was not possible due to the scale of the cemetery and privacy issues.

"Everybody's all in the same boat in the cemetery. We're all angry, because it's happened numerous times and it keeps happening," Ms Littler said.

"Until they do something about it, it's going to continue to happen."

A spokesperson for the local authority said: "We utterly deplore this mindless and distressing vandalism and would urge anyone who has any information about it to contact the police."

They added the Cemeteries and Crematorium Service could not be responsible for objects placed alongside graves and urged people to consider what items they put there.

"With a site spanning more than 30 acres, it is not feasible to install cameras from both practical and cost perspectives, but equally importantly it would also raise privacy issues for people who wish to spend private time beside their loved one’s grave," the spokesperson said.