'Low life' steals cemetery's disabled-access toilet fitted after three-year campaign

Town councillors have said they have been left "fuming" after thieves swiped the disabled-access toilet in Whitchurch Cemetery on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

In a statement, Whitchurch Town Council, which owns the cemetery, said the thieves could not "sink any lower".

"We would be grateful to receive any information in connection with the overnight theft of an Accessible Toilet, which was bolted onto a concrete base at Whitchurch Cemetery in Mile Bank Road," the town council added.

"Anyone with any information, no matter how trivial you think it may be, or CCTV / dashcam footage - please get in touch with Mike McDonald, Proper Officer on clerk@whitchurchcouncil.uk.

"In the meantime, the matter has been reported to West Mercia Police (Whitchurch SNT) and we are looking to replace it as soon as we can. In the meantime, apologies to anyone who uses the facilities whilst visiting the cemetery."

Town councillor Pete Lea said he had campaigned for three years to get the toilet installed at the cemetery and had been left "fuming" by the theft.

He said: "Some low life has unbolted and stolen the disabled toilet from Mile bank cemetery. It has taken me three years to get one sited there for the disabled and elderly whilst visiting their loved ones."

He said the toilet had cost around £1,800 and he had installed it himself a year ago.

"We had contractors installing an Armco fence and they noticed it missing n Thursday morning," he said. "I knew they were pretty sought after when I installed but they unscrewed it and must have picked it straight up."

He added he was willing to pay for any information leading to its recovery "from my own pocket".

West Mercia Police has been contacted for comment.