Vandals destroy memorial to Shrewsbury father
Wednesday 31st August 2011, 4:00PM BST.
Vandals have destroyed a memorial to a father whose body was found in the River Severn in Shrewsbury.
Flowers and messages were left in Becks Field, near The Boathouse pub, by family and friends of Mark Hodnett, whose body was found in the river on August 18.
But Mr Hodnett’s friend Matt Everington this afternoon said Emma Davies, mother of Mr Hodnett’s one-year-old son Oliver, visited the memorial yesterday to find it had been vandalised.
He said: “Emma went down yesterday to find that it had been trashed and all the flowers had been kicked in the river.
“I left an A4 page tribute in a plastic wallet which someone decided to burn along with a picture of Mark.
“There were a few CD cases left as well and they have all been smashed.
“It’s disgusting really and it made me feel physically sick that someone could be so disrespectful over something like that.
“It was Emma that discovered it and she took it upon herself to clear up the area because if Mark’s family had gone down it would be the last thing they would have wanted to see.” The body of Mr Hodnett, 27, of Grange Road, Radbrook, was pulled from the river near to the Kingsland Bridge.
He had been missing for several days after being last seen leaving a nightclub in the town.
Friends held a vigil in his memory this month and there has been a Facebook campaign calling for dangerous areas of the River Severn to be fenced off to prevent further tragedies.
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they are petty scum
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I wonder what pleasure these cretins got out of doing this? I sincerely hope that Mark’s family and friends find out who they are before the Police.
Sympathy to his family, as if they haven’t gone through enough.
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People like this make me feel sick! Their parents should be locked up, for obviously not having a clue how to raise a ‘human being’
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This is so sad to read about this memorial being destroyed…… Whats wrong with people today? When these insensitive idiots get caught they should do community service doing work around the cemetery as punishment.
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Maybe if if the law courts brought in a five year jail sentence with no parole that would put an end to it, but you would always get the odd scumbag that would do it even then.
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