PARISH councillors have been left shocked after callous fly-tippers dumped waste close to headstones at a village cemetery.

Household waste, tree-cuttings, a child’s bike and empty beer bottles were dumped at St Osyth Cemetery.

A lock was broken off to gain entry to the site, in Clay Lane, which is run by St Osyth Parish Council.

The fly-tippers were condemned for their actions and an appeal has been made in a bid to bring those responsible to book.

John White, who is a district and parish councillor for St Osyth, said: “The lock was broken by whoever got onto the new part of the cemetery and we have now replaced it with a different type of lock.

"We would ask for anyone who saw anything suspicious to come forward.

“This is extremely upsetting for those who have relatives in the cemetery and it is to be condemned.

"We do have a name and address on one of the boxes found and we will use that to try to find whose waste this is and how they disposed of it in the first place.”

Michael Talbot, Tendring Council’s cabinet member for environment, who last week announced a crackdown on fly-tipping, said that nowhere escapes being blighted.

“Fly-tipping is the scourge of our rural areas and virtually everywhere has been affected across Tendring,” he said.

“There were 729 incidents over the past six months and 682 in the six months before that. Nowhere is sacrosanct, even cemeteries and burials grounds, and I am aware there was a similar incident at Wrabness Burial Ground only recently.

“As with St Osyth Cemetery this is private land but we will do whatever we can to assist bringing those responsible to book and I ask anyone who may have information or saw a vehicle to contact the Parish council or the Police.”

Mr Talbot recently asked people to film anyone they saw fly-tipping on their mobile phones.

“However, this is not just about catching the prosecuting the culprits – we need to stop the practice and Tendring Council is setting up a working party in a bid to tackle the issue,” he added.

The incident was reported at around 6.30pm on June 21 by a resident.