Two suspects who were arrested after a video of two girls laughing as they messed with a child's grave circulated on social media have been bailed, police said.
As the Manchester Evening News reported yesterday (Wednesday), one piece of footage showed a girl taking items from the grave of a young child and throwing an object at the headstone while laughing. In the other, a girl was seen taking flowers from another grave and pouring them from their container onto the pathway at Leigh Cemetery on Manchester Road.
Police said last night that two suspects were 'being dealt with' in custody. This morning (Thursday), the force has confirmed that both suspects have been bailed.
A tweet posted on the official GMP Leigh, Atherton and Hindley said: "UPDATE: Leigh - The Police are aware of the video that has been circulating on social media regarding an incident that took place at Leigh Cemetery, Manchester Road, Leigh. Two suspects were arrested yesterday evening, interviewed in custody and then bailed."
In a statement earlier, Paul Barton, Wigan council’s director for environment, said: "We are aware of a video from Leigh Cemetery which is circulating on social media.
"Following reports of this video, our teams have visited the cemetery and we can confirm that there is no physical damage to the headstone. We do not condone this behaviour in any way and we would like to reassure families that we are committed to ensuring all of our cemeteries are safe places to visit and remember loved ones."
Many have taken to social media to slam the actions of those in the clips. One commenter wrote: "It's absolutely vile! Any decent parent would be disgusted!"
Another wrote: "Disgusting! They should be ashamed of themselves! Why are they even hanging around the cemetery anyway!"