An Enniskillen woman was left in tears after discovering a silk flower wreath remembering her late uncle, who fought in World War Two, had been allegedly stolen from his grave.

Mrs. Anne Elliott (70) has appealed for those who have taken the wreath from Breandrum Cemetary to return it or replace it.

She was distraught when on Saturday, November 9, she visited the grave of her late uncle in advance of Remembrance Day to discover that a silk wreath that she had placed along with a poppy cross on the grave two days earlier was gone.

She explained: “I went to the grave on the Thursday before the Remembrance Celebrations to tidy it up [and place the wreath] and then I was back again on the Saturday and discovered it was gone.

She believes that the wreath was stolen: “It was too heavy to have blown away.”

Mrs. Elliott does not believe it was moved for grasscutting or other purposes she said: “There wasn’t any grass cutting in that area [of the graveyard], they were doing the other side.

“We went around and searched in the bins and they had all been emptied. I am presuming it was stolen but the fact remains it is gone.”

The incident has caused great upset: “I was in tears. Morally I just could not believe how anyone would do that.”

“I am 70 now, and I am a bit superstitious, I think someone doing that, removing something from a grave, they can have no luck for doing that.”

Her uncle was a veteran who fought in World War Two she said: “He left home at 17 and joined the Parachute Regiment and was proud of that. He didn’t speak a lot about that. It was just a very basic moral thing, he asked me if would I look after his grave and I promised him I would.

“I haven’t missed a year since he died doing this.”

Mrs. Elliott claimed that a poppy cross was also moved on the grave.

She said: “ I had stuck it in tight to the headstone but it had been moved forward a couple of inches and stuck in deeper.

Mrs. Elliott posted a message on the Enniskillen Family, Friends and Neighbours Facebook group appealing for the wreath to be returned. She then received many messages where other people had shared similar stories of items being stolen from graves across the county.

“Morally, I just think it is outrageous how someone could do that. On that site there are hundreds of messages, this is something that happens frequently.”

Appealing for the return of the wreath, she said: “The message I would like to give to people is, to the person that did this. Either put it back or put a holly wreath in its place and have some humanity and morality about you.”