Mother heartbroken after items stolen from son's gravesite

A grieving mother has been left devastated after discovering items from her son's grave have been stolen from Kelvin Grove Cemetery in Palmerston North.

Mary Chudleigh visited her son Ray's gravesite at lunchtime on Friday last week to find an engraved fantail statue, large punga and other various items had been removed.

The fantail had been erected on a large silver stake as a temporary headstone with the words 'Fly Free Ray'. The 19-year-old died on Christmas day last year.

"He hasn't even been gone a year...this is the third theft we've had but the first time anything sizable has been taken," Mrs Chudleigh explained. "They would've needed a truck or van as the punga tree and pot was quite large."

She described the theft as "soul wrenching" and felt unsure about whether to replace the items.

"I had gone there as I was already a bit upset and I just wanted to talk to him uninterrupted. These items were special -- they were handpicked and someone else has them."

She said the act "defied belief" and finding the items missing had left her incredibly distressed.

"I know ours was not the only one targeted...I also noticed a statue missing from one grave as I went back to my car."

Cemetery supervisor Neville Carter said thefts were a common occurrence which had become worse after Palmerston North expanded it's city boundary.

"We have runners, walkers, children...it's a public cemetery so there's no way we can police it all the time."

He said the cemetery had no onsite security and a lot of incidents went unreported.

"Decorating the graves is a way to help people grieve and it's just a shame we have some people with no morals."