Heartbroken relatives have been left picking up the pieces after vandals wrecked headstones of loved ones.

About 20 graves at Bocking Cemetery were damaged.

Headstones were shoved on to the ground, lying face down in the dirt with flowers, and pots smashed to pieces around them.

Shocked family members were contacted and told the news on Saturday morning after it is believed vandals came into the isolated 1850s cemetery in Church Lane on Friday night.

The alarm was raised by the caretaker of Causeway House council offices in Bocking at about 8am.

One of the headstones targeted was that of 17-year-old Richard Green, who died in a car crash on the A120 Braintree bypass last June.

Parents Ken and Sandra Green admitted they had just started to recover from the court case, which took place just two weeks ago, in which the lorry driver to blame for the death crash was jailed for three years.

They said they had just begun to piece their lives back together when they were dealt another devastating blow.

Mrs Green, of Tabor Avenue, Braintree, said: "They've obviously never lost anyone to know how much this hurts. This was all we had left of him. It's disgusting and sick."

Michael Ashby, cemetery superintendent for Braintree Council, said: "It's not the value of the damage, it's the devastation to family and friends. They must be really sick in the head to do something like this. It's disgusting."

Mr Green's headstone had been ripped from the base and pushed over on to fresh carnations which had been placed there just days before.

One victim of the vandals had only seen a member of the family buried a few weeks earlier.

A stonemason was due to visit the cemetery yesterday (Monday) to survey the damage and try to restore the headstones. Police were unable to get fingerprints due to rain the previous night. No witnesses have yet come forward.

PC Andy Pilgrim, of Braintree police, said: "This area is quite isolated so it's possible nobody saw anything, but obviously if anyone did, get in touch."

If anybody witnessed anyone suspicious around the cemetery call Braintree police on 01376 551312 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111

Vandalised - Sandra Green at the grave of her son Richard, with his aunt Nicola Bebber

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