A VANDAL has smashed in the face of an eight year-old boy on a memorial plaque erected in his memory at the scene of his drowning in the River Severn at Beachley.
Youngster Jamie-Lee Wilson Cartright was swept to his death on August 3, 2005. He and his cousin Kyle, aged nine, had been crossing the narrow causeway between the shore and Chapel Rock when they were caught by an incoming tide.
A Severn Area Rescue Association crew rushed to the scene and both lads were taken by helicopter to Bristol's Frenchay Hospital. However attempts to revive Jamie-Lee failed.
Members of Jamie-Lee's family – his father was a soldier in the Green Howards regiment stationed at nearby Beachley Barracks – later erected the plaque which is fixed to a Second World War pill box on the edge of the foreshore.
On Sunday local man Kevin Worsley, now of 23, Oak Meadow, Primrose Hill, Lydney, but who grew up in Sedbury, discovered the plaque had been damaged.
"I thought it was disgusting. It is shameless vandalism probably done with a stone or even an airgun," he said.
Mr Worsley said he was quite prepared to carry out the repair to the plaque if a member of Jamie-Lee's family – now believed to have left the area – could be contacted to provide another photograph.
"To be honest I found it upsetting. It is an example of totally pointless vandalism and I know every local family will join me in expressing regret that it could ever happen," he said.