Cemetery vandalism – online appeal for relatives

Relatives whose ancestors’ graves were vandalised at a Moray burial ground are being sought in a nationwide online appeal.

Vandals smashed nearly 50 headstones in Elgin cemetery last week in an attack that has shocked the community.

Grampian Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

The headstones, some of which date back to the 1880s, will be made safe but will not be repaired or re-erected until contact is made with surviving relatives.

Moray Council has now posted the lair numbers of the damaged stones and the names of the deceased with their date of death on its website in the hope that lair holders or relatives can be traced.

A council spokesman said: “The oldest date on the damaged headstones is 1882 and many of the stones are 100 or more years old so tracing lair holders is likely to be problematic.

“We hope that by putting details on our website we can trace at least some relatives of those whose graves have been desecrated by this mindless act of vandalism.”

Details of the headstones can be found at    Burials Pages