Ealrs Colne: memorial items in St Andrew's Graveyard binned

Yasmin Jones, 28, was shocked when they arrived at St Andrew’s Graveyard, in Church Hill, Earls Colne, to find items had been moved from her brother's grave. 

Yasmin and her mum had gathered at the grave last Saturday, for what would have been Carl’s 38th birthday.

Carl died in 1996 after his family made the difficult decision to turn off his life support after he was knocked off his bike in a crash. He was just ten years old. 

Before - an image of Carl's grave with many of the wonderful items that had been placed (Image: Yasmin Jones)

Location - a Street View image of the entrance to St Andrew's Graveyard (Image: Google Maps)

When Yasmin, from Braintree, arrived at the grave she found all the trinkets and memorials the family had left at the site had been removed.

She said: “I was instantly like who do I need to call, why have they touched his things?

“Some of the things held years of memories.

After - what the grave area looked like after the maintenance work had taken place (Image: Yasmin Jones)

Beautiful - although things had been removed, Yasmin and the family put down some new items for Carl's 38th birthday (Image: Yasmin Jones)

“We literally were so shocked, everything had gone.

"It is absolutely devastating, it looks like we don’t care anymore. This is someone who we visit very often, he was a very big part of the family."

Some of the items included a Chelsea football club teddy bear given by one of Carl’s nephews, cards, small ornaments and flowers.

After contacting the church’s vicar the same day in order to find out where the items had gone so they could collect them, Yasmin claims she was informed maintenance work had been carried out.

After the maintenance - another image of St Andrew's Graveyard (Image: Yasmin Jones)

St Andrews Church said items were removed from the churchyard to allow the grass to be cut and the earth to be levelled

Yasmin claims a call later confirmed the items were gone and would not be retrievable.

She said: “Getting off that phone call, me and my family were raging, it just frustrating, the things had been down there for so long, for someone to come along to pick it up and think it is ok to throw it away like it is nothing.

“It is so infuriating.

“We don’t want it to happen again, it shouldn’t have happened.

"To lose all those things that were there for such a long period of time, it really sucks, it is sad we couldn’t get it back, it makes you feel how heartless can someone be.”

A spokesperson for St Andrew’s Church said: "We are very sorry that some items that were removed from our churchyard to allow the grass to be cut and the earth to be levelled, were later disposed of because of a miscommunication.

"We understand the distress and upset this has caused. We have apologised to the family and we have put in place a procedure to make sure this doesn't happen again.

"In future any items that are removed to allow maintenance will be kept for a period of time in case families want them to be returned."