Callous thieves swipe expensive paving flags from memorial for murdered soldier Lee Rigby
Council gardener Steven Morrow discovered the crime when he arrived at work early one morning last week
CALLOUS thieves have stolen about a dozen expensive paving flags from a memorial to murdered fusilier Lee Rigby.
The Yorkstone flags were taken from a centopath in Middleton, Greater Manchester where a bronze drum and plaque sits in tribute to the slain soldier.
Council gardener Steven Morrow discovered the crime when he arrived at work on July 13.
He told the : "For thieves to target a cenotaph, especially one as high profile as this because it's home to the Lee Rigby memorial, is absolutely disgusting.
"They are big, old, quality stones.
"Churches and Cenotaphs, they are areas you shouldn’t be taking anything from, but in this day and age I suppose people would do it, because they have."
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Lee, 25, who served in Afghanistan for the British army, was brutally murdered by Islamist extremists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale in May 2013.
The killers mowed down the soldier in a car close to Woolwich barracks in South East London before hacking him to death.
Adebolajo, 30, is serving a whole-life term for the murder while his accomplice Adebowale, 24, was sentenced to 45 years behind bars.
The memorial in Lee's hometown of Middleton was created in March last year and featured a bronze drum and plaque dedicated to him.
The bronze drum - in honour of Lee’s drummer rank in the Royal Fusiliers - was erected on top of a plinth with the message "Lest We Forget" engraved on it.
A plaque sits alongside with the words "In Loving Memory of Fusilier Lee James Rigby — Forever Loved and Remembered".
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