A grieving family has been left devastated after flowers placed on a loved one’s grave were stolen by thieves.

Barbara Coleman, 91, laid pink carnations at the final resting place of husband Ron on what would have been his 90th birthday.

But within two days the colourful display was swiped from the memorial stone at St Mildred’s Church in Canterbury.

The couple’s daughter, Lynette Coleman, said: “My dear mum put the flowers on my dad’s grave on the Sunday and she went back to visit on Tuesday and they were gone.

“She was so upset that they had been taken. She had also written a card and put it under the arrangement and they took that too.”

Mr Coleman lived in Canterbury for most of his life and was a mainstay of Canterbury Operatic Society for three decades.

He spent the majority of his professional career maintaining telephone switchboards for the General Post Office and was well-known throughout the city before his death from a heart attack two years ago.

Former BT clerical officer Lynette, of Pine Tree Avenue, is part of the congregation at the church where her father’s ashes are buried.

“It’s such a welcoming and friendly church and horrible when this kind of thing happens to you,” she said.

“We are meant to trust in people and that trust gets abused – somebody saw a nice attractive bunch of flowers to steal and took them.

"It’s another facet of our society and when it touches you it’s depressing.

“Graffiti and littering is something people do deliberately and that particular area gets abused.

"People show disrespect and don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

“My dear mum put the flowers on my dad’s grave on the Sunday and she went back to visit on Tuesday and they were gone - Lynette Coleman

The mother-of-two says she has been heartened by members of the church and community who have left kind messages about her father.

“My dad would have the same attitude as me – he would say that’s the way of the world we live in,” she said.

“I feel angry but on the other hand people who knew my dad have written some very nice things and left lovely tributes.”

Mrs Coleman, 67, thinks keeping the gate locked at night may deter people from going into the church grounds.

“If they were shut and locked at night you would think it would deter people, but I don’t know if it would,” she said.

“We really hope this doesn’t happen again to us or anyone else.”