Milnthorpe cemetery vandalised by gang of children

When Dail Casey, 55, went to St. Thomas Church cemetery in Milnthorpe to put flowers on her son's grave she was shocked by what she saw.

She found that the tiles on the roof of a shelter in the cemetery had been damaged and saw rubbish, including wine bottles and aerosol cans, scattered around the cemetery. 

She blamed this on a group of children in the area and said that this was not the first time the cemetery had been damaged like this. 

Litter including a deodorant can and a wine bottle in the shelter (Image: Dail Casey)

Bryan Kerr is the priest-in-charge for St Thomas's Church in Milnthorpe, which operates the cemetery.

He agreed with Ms Casey that it was a group of young people causing the mess and said the shelter was going to be knocked down partly as a way to deter groups from meeting there. 

Ms Casey's son Lee died stillborn 34 years ago and is buried with her father.

She said: "I've got a lot of family members in the cemetery. It is not just a one-time thing. Quite clearly they were sniffing aerosols. There was a bottle of wine and there must have been a glass somewhere. 

"It's disrespectful. I hope when they have children they will know what it's like. I hope if you have to visit, because everybody does, and you find debris and stuff scattered around, you will know it's not nice." 

Rubbish left strewn in the shelter (Image: Dail Casey)

She said when she was younger she had fun with her friends but she did it in parks or other spaces and would never have dreamed of abusing the cemetery. Ms Casey has been visiting the cemetery since she was 11 years old. 

Mr Kerr said: "We're in the process of getting that shelter demolished. It's not something we can just do overnight."

He gave this message to the vandals: "Sadly death is an unwelcome visitor to every home and every family at one point or another. Maybe just give a thought about who those graves represent."