A WIDOW has branded thieves as "sick" after they stole an ornament from her husband's grave.

Mrs Josephine Wyroclawski, who is known as Wyroc for short, lost her husband Alf in January.

The 68-year-old and her family are still deciding on a suitable headstone for the grave in Blackley Cemetery so the plot bears a simple wooden cross and his name.

In the meantime they have placed bunches of flowers on the grave and Mrs Wyroc's daughter bought an ornamental tribute to her father, which has gone missing.

Mrs Wyroc, who lives in Sedgley Park, Prestwich, said: "She bought a pair of hands holding a bird and said it reminded her of her father. Alf loved birds and he was always using his hands. He was a plasterer and tiler by trade and did all the odd jobs for my daughters."

Mrs Wyroc visited the grave on a Thursday and when she returned on the Saturday the ornament had gone so she reported it to the cemetery office.

She said: "All they said was that someone must have fancied it for their garden but there are lots of things on other graves. It is obvious it is a fresh grave and the thieves must have realised that. It is so sick."

Mrs Wyroc, a Roman Catholic, added: "It is heart rending. My daughter was upset and my grandson asked where his grandad's hands were."

As reported in last week's paper £40,000 worth of damage was caused at a Jewish cemetery in Prestwich.

Vandals pushed over and damaged 20 headstones at the Rainsough Joint Hebrew Burial Ground in Butterstile Lane.

Jeff Fisher, general manager for operational services at Manchester City Council, who is responsible for Blackley Cemetery said: "We were sorry to hear that an ornament had been stolen from Mrs Wyroclawski's grave. However, the staff at all our cemeteries, including Blackley Cemetery, try to encourage people not to place ornaments on graves as unfortunately there have been incidents of theft before. It is tragic that the people who steal these objects have no compassion or thought for the grief that others are suffering at a very sad time in their lives."