Council to replace plaques stolen from Wellington Cemetery

The 100 plaques dedicated to residents’ loved ones were taken from a memorial wall in the Garden of Remembrance at the Linden Avenue cemetery earlier this month.

About half the plaques have been recovered following a house search by police but only 25 have survived undamaged. A man has been arrested and bailed pending further investigation.

The council says they have sufficient information to replace 32 additional plaques.

Many of the six inch by four inch plaques have been in place since the 1970s and 1980s. Telford & Wrekin Council’s Register Office was made aware of the theft on March 7.

Any relative attending the cemetery who identifies a family member’s plaque is missing should contact the council on 01952 382444 or email register.office@telford.gov.uk - a replacement will be arranged at no cost.

Councillor Hilda Rhodes, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Customer Services, said: “This was an extremely distressing theft and we are doing everything we can to restore the plaques.

“However, we don’t have a comprehensive list or details of the more historic plaques so we are asking anyone who thinks their family’s plaque was stolen to get in touch.

“When we put out the appeal at the time of the theft, we were contacted by people from as far afield as Canada and France who used to live locally so we are hopeful that we will trace more people this time as well.”

Before all the plaques are put back in place at the Garden of Remembrance, they will be marked with SmartWater to further protect them from any future thefts.

SmartWater will assign the plaques with their own forensic code, so they can be traced if stolen, while the thief can be linked with the crime.

Once applied SmartWater is almost impossible to remove and can only be seen under UV light. An increasing number of scrap metal dealers are checking for SmartWater and refusing to handle anything marked with the traceable liquid.

SmartWater Chief Executive, Phil Cleary, said: “The theft of memorial plaques is a despicable act, and we are therefore pleased that we can assist Telford and Wrekin Council to combat this type of crime.

“The use of SmartWater has aided hundreds of convictions and maintains a 100% conviction rate in Court.”