The tearful mother of a war hero wants his body dug up and buried somewhere else because of an unusual form of vandalism.

Brave Sgt Robert Loughran-Dickson, 33, was shot and killed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in 2009.

In a full military funeral his body was laid to rest at his chosen Sholden Church, close to the family home in Delane Road. But for the past six years his grave has repeatedly been the focus of a specific vandalism, which has over the years reduced mum Win Baker and sister Tracy Dickson to floods of tears.

Ms Dickson said: “We have three to four pots where we put fresh roses for him, and they’re taking them out of the pots and leaving them by the side of the pots to die.

“It’s been happening for six years. We’ve left it, and have gone to the police, the MP Charlie Elphicke, Military Police and they contacted the vicar but it has carried on.

“We started putting artificial flowers there hoping that would make them stop, but we still put fresh roses in the pots at the side of the headstone because that’s what he deserves.

“On Thursday we went there and they had de-headed all the artificial flowers and scattered them around the grave.

“He was a hero and they’re doing this to him and we don’t know why,” she said.

At first they thought it was the work of kids playing cruel pranks, but the sustained and specific method makes them think someone older is responsible.

“They’re not stealing them, they’re just laying them next to the pots.

“It’s like they’re making a point to us as a family or because he was in the Military Police.

“I can’t see why anyone would have a grudge and I can’t see anything from when he was younger, he was a quiet lad and got bullied a lot, but we think: ‘Is it because of us?’”

The family put an appeal on Facebook in the past and it seemed to stop but it returned with the latest discovery recently, which they have not reported to the police.

“It’s at the point now where my mum wants him dug up so we can put him to rest somewhere else, and he wanted to be buried where he is.

“My mum is upset, she is crying, she goes up there more than us at the moment because she lives nearer.

“Seeing her collapse at the graveside crying is awful. It’s more upsetting seeing mum and dad upset than what happened to Robert. He can’t be hurt now, he is there and can’t do anything about it, and my sister and I can’t do anything about it. Robert was their only son,” she said.

Sgt Loughran-Dickson attended Sholden Primary and Deal Secondary School before joining the 4th Regiment, the Military Police based in Aldershot.

He was killed on November 18, 2009. His body was repatriated that November and honoured in his home town a month later with a full military funeral at St Leonard’s Church.

Minister of St Nicholas Church the Rev David Flewker said: “I can understand and sympathise with the family’s hurt.

“This is such a specific thing, being just the moving of flowers around.

“Seeing her collapse at the graveside crying is awful" - Tracy Dickson

“I would ask the person responsible to either stop doing it, or if they have an interest in this grave, to come forward and declare it.”

MP Charlie Elphicke asked the district council’s Community Safety Unit to meet with the vicar and to install CCTV, but because of the privacy rights of other mourners this is not possible.

A spokesman for the district council’s Crime Prevention Unit said: “We do understand the concerns in this matter, however, it is not considered that CCTV would be appropriate in these circumstances. If the family have ongoing concerns, they should report incidents of criminal damage to the Police on 101 or online at kent.police.uk/services/report-online/kent-police-online-reporting/

Kent police have also been contacted but had not provided a response at the time of going to press.

n Are you the victim of grave vandalism? write to us at Letters to the Editor, 13 Queen Street, Deal Kent CT14 6EX or email mercurynews@thekmgroup.co.uk.