Several gravestones in a church were shockingly found smashed up by sick vandals in a mindless act of vandalism, as the church has admitted they still have 'no answers' nearly a year on.
The gravestones at St Piran’s Church graveyard, in Perranarworthal, Cornwall, were found damaged in November last year.
It is understood that the incident took place sometime between November 2 and November 8 last year. But due to the remote location of the graveyard itself, the incident was not witnessed nor captured on CCTV.
The gravestones were found by a working party that maintained the cemetery. And one of the church wardens, David Simmons, last year told CornwallLive : “We believe it is a deliberate act. There are no trees that have come down and the way they have been smashed doesn’t look accidental.
“But we can’t ascertain why or who would do this. We don’t know if it is random or targeted. It has all felt very sinister and upsetting really.”
The warden went on to add that the graves themselves date back to the early 1800s. This means that it is difficult to identify who they belong to, or exactly how many graves were vandalised during the rampage in November. He suspects that there were three separate gravestones though.
But last year, the church announced that they were in the process of looking at records in the hope of contacting descendants of the graves, with David saying: “We may never know who did this but, either way, we hope it is an isolated event. We’ve warned other churches to look out for similar offences. It’s left us feeling intimidated and wondering what will come next.”
However, nearly a year on, the church warden spoke to The Mirror and admitted that they, "haven't really heard who was responsible for it because it happened some time ago.
"We were obviously quite upset about it when it happened."
And despite the church being in talks of retrieving the records from the gravestones, David said that there is "no clean up and processing of records at this stage, as there was quite a bit of damage".
He also added: "There was so much damage, and I do not think they can be put back exactly as they are.
"We are trying to take stock and trace back family members, but they are very old graves. So it is a bit of a difficult situation at the moment."
David then went on to say: "It is still under discussion at the moment, but as I say, it happened last November so there is nothing more to add at this stage," adding: "It is all very sad."
And despite Devon and Cornwall Police urging people with information to come forward last year, the cops have confirmed that the matter was closed late last year due to no information being provided.
