Thugs trash Barnet graveyard deliberately smashing apart headstones

Mindless thugs have trashed a Barnet church graveyard, knocking over headstones and breaking them apart.

The Reverend Dr Julie Gittoes has spoken of the “care and love” proven by disgusted native residents following the injury to gravestones at St Mary’s Church in Hendon.

Dr Gittoes additionally welcomed the council’s pledge to put in CCTV cameras after vandals broken numerous graves within the churchyard final month.

Photos present some headstones had been knocked over and damaged apart.

Following the incident, Barnet Council pledged to extend CCTV protection to assist forestall additional acts of vandalism.

Dr Gittoes stated: “I’ve actually appreciated the assist of numerous councillors – and agreeing to put in CCTV is a tangible type of assist.

“The scale and nature of the injury is surprising, and lots of people locally felt an actual emotional response.

“The churchyard is on the very coronary heart of a conservation space in Hendon. There are lots of people who worth it as a heritage website and have been going there for a stroll throughout lockdown, utilizing it as an area for reflection and recreation.

“I need to concentrate on the power of constructive group assist. People from the age of eight – youngsters, mother and father, all the best way as much as individuals of their eighties have been taking flowers and placing them on the graves.

“To me, that’s the greatest response – displaying respect, and care and love.

“Although what occurred was surprising and unhappy, the best way the individuals and councillors and different leaders have labored collectively to supply a supportive response – that’s what we will construct on.”

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Cllr Roberto Weeden-Sanz, chairman of Barnet Council’s safer communities partnership board, stated: “Along with many others locally, I used to be outraged to see the injury executed to graves at St Mary’s.

“The council has been working carefully with Rev Dr Julie Gittoes to guard this historic churchyard from additional desecration, and I’m delighted the council might help by putting in CCTV. We will shield our cemeteries from such hatred.”

A Barnet Council spokesperson stated: “We are conscious of the surprising incident of vandalism which befell at St Mary’s Church, Hendon. We are working carefully with the police to, so far as attainable, forestall and deter any comparable future incidents. This will embody a rise in our CCTV protection within the neighborhood of the situation.”

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