Woman catches cousin vandalising mother's grave

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After finding her mother's gravestone vandalised time and time again, British woman Sue Pullin was determined to catch the culprit.

Baffled as to why anyone would have damaged Mavis Budd's resting place in Bristol repeatedly over a three-year period, Mrs Pullin, 67, called in a private detective.

But her shock only deepened when covert camera footage revealed the person that was trampling on flowers, pulling up blooms and pouring dirty water over the headstone was her cousin Amanda Lester.

Mrs Pullin called the police and Lester, 57, has now been convicted of criminal damage and given a conditional discharge.

Mrs Pullin is still unclear what motivated her cousin, but suspects she was unhappy that Mrs Budd's ashes were scattered on the plot where her own mother had also been laid to rest.

She said: "It was horrible. I just didn't know what I was going to find when we set up the camera. I was having sleepless nights and was so upset. It was tearing the family apart.

"When I saw it was Amanda it made me feel sick and I had to go outside to get myself together.

"The tape showed her putting all the flowers in a bag and throwing them into a copse."

Mrs Budd was 89 when she died on December 27, 2009. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered at St Anne's Church graveyard in Oldland Common, Bristol, in March the following year.

Mrs Pullin, a supermarket trainer, explained: "As soon as we put mum's ashes down and put some floral tributes down, the trouble started. Everything was being damaged, taken away or destroyed.

"It was devastating for us and we had no idea who was doing it. We just assumed it was children.

"There was a bend in the graveyard I would go around and my stomach would lurch, because it was then I would see if anything had happened."

Mrs Pullin and her retired husband Michael, 69, were so distressed that they contacted police who told the couple they would need evidence before they could act. She said: "We had no idea who was doing it so hired a private eye."

The couple spent £250 on the detective, who recorded footage of Lester bagging flowers from the grave and dumping them in a nearby copse. Mrs Pullin passed the video on to police and Lester was handed a caution.

But when the damage continued Mrs Pullin and her husband spent a further £100 on a motion sensor camera which they concealed in a hedge at the site.

Again, they caught Lester pouring dirty flower water over the headstone and stamping on flowers.

Lester, of Barrs Court, Bristol, pleaded guilty to criminal damage when she appeared at North Avon magistrates' court. She was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs, a £15 victim surcharge and £8.50 compensation to Mrs Pullin.

Mrs Pullin says she has never received an explanation for her cousin's actions but believes it is down to their mothers sharing the graveyard plot.

She added: "As far as we were concerned there was a good relationship between Amanda and my mother.

"Our relationship is irreparable now. How can you forgive someone who has done that?"

- DAILY MAIL