Grave robbers strike at Lanark’s new cemetery

Plundering flowers and tributes from graves is no new problem in Clydesdale and there have been many cases of this happening, especially at cemeteries near town centres but with walls hiding the plunderers from view of surrounding residents; the ‘old’ Lanark cemetery on Hyndford Road and the Wilton Cemetery in Carluke were particularly vulnerable to this kind of cruel theft and desecration.

Now the first case of such a crime at the new Springbank Cemetery has been brought to the attention of the Gazette by Lanark resident Jackie Lavelle whose dad Sandy was interred at the new graveyard in September.

She told the Gazette: “I had placed two solar-powered garden lamps at dad’s grave along with two small wooden flower buckets and over the past few weeks they have all been taken away.

“I felt bad enough about it when I noticed it happening but my mum is feeling worse than me about it.

“She is really upset about it.”

For more on this story, see this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette.