A LYDNEY widow is asking for help to track down a distinctive memorial stolen from her husband’s grave, which she suspects may then have been given by the thief as a Fathers’ Day gift.

Carol Pritchard’s husband Stanley, known as John, died last year and the planter was bought from a company in Cinderford to commemorate his birthday in October and placed on the grave at Lydney Parish Church.

Carol said: “John used to drive a JCB, which is why we chose that as a memorial. It cost £65 and it’s really heavy. It took two of us to carry it to the grave.

“I visited the grave on Thursday afternoon (June 14) and then a friend asked my daughter Nicki, Trim who works in Co-op Pharmacy in Lydney where it was on Saturday morning (June 16) so it must have gone missing between then.

“The police were disgusted when we reported it to them and said they would do their best to track it down.

“I suspect it may have been stolen to give as a Fathers’ Day gift, so if you received one of these on Sunday, you might want to question where it came from.”

Carol’s daughter Nicki appealed on Facebook for the planter’s return, saying: “There are some cruel people out there. Why would you want to go and steal the JCB from the cemetery? Absolutely gutted - they left it such a mess.

“And we had nowhere to put flowers yesterday.”

Anybody with any information is asked to contact PC Phil Hopkins on 101, quoting reference number 2416/6/18.