Thieves steal memorial plaques, leave ashes exposed at Maddingley General Cemetery in Bacchus Marsh

Operators of Maddingley General Cemetery have been left “horrified” after 15 plaques were ripped from a memorial site, leaving containers filled with ashes and remains exposed.

Fifteen metal plaques were stolen from a brick wall niche at a Bacchus Marsh cemetery. Picture: Supplied

Operators of a Bacchus Marsh cemetery have been left “horrified” after 15 plaques were ripped from a memorial site, leaving containers of loved ones’ ashes exposed.

Police are on the hunt for brazen thieves who allegedly broke into the Maddingley General Cemetery on Griffith St in the early hours of Sunday and forcibly removed 15 metal plaques displaying the names of the deceased from a brick wall niche.

The offenders fled with the plaques — which are about A3 in size — leaving holes in the brick wall and containers filled with remains bare.

Fifteen metal plaques were stolen from a brick wall niche at a Bacchus Marsh cemetery.

Member of the cemetery trust Richard Dickson said the “atrocious” vandalism had resulted in “nothing but grief, hardship and a lot of follow up work to replace the plaques”.

“It’s like lifting the lids of graves and leaving them open,” Mr Dickson said.

Mr Dickson said members of the cemetery trust were “totally confused” by the theft, calling it “horrendous vandalism for no reason”.

“We can’t understand what they’re going to do with (the plaques),” Mr Dickson said.

“It’s not as if it was all brass or copper — it’s just metal … melting them down wouldn’t do anything.”

The plaques are believed to belong to eight unconnected families whose loved ones died dating back to the early 1990s.

Containers filled with ashes were left exposed after thieves ripped metal plaques sealing the holes in the brick wall.

The plaques are not owned by the cemetery, but the families of the deceased — leaving operators with the task of calling loved ones to inform them of the vandalism.

“It’s a horrendous thing — you’ve got to go back and visit a death,” Mr Dickson said.

“(The offenders) have got no idea the work that’s involved and the stress we’re going to create going back (to families) and saying ‘the ashes are exposed’.

“The work involved and the trauma that we’re going to open up people to shouldn’t be happening.”

Mr Dickson assured affected families that the cemetery was sealing the exposed ashes on Thursday and would be contacting the owners of the plaques to help organise insurance claims.

“Rest assured that we have got it under control,” Mr Dickson said.

“We’ve been to the police, we’ve notified the government, the insurance agency. We will follow families up as best we can.”

The plaques at the Bacchus Marsh cemetery are insured and will be replaced by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA), which provides insurance to more than 500 cemetery trusts on behalf of the state government.

The cemetery trust was at a loss as why offenders would steal the metal plaques, calling the attack ‘horrific’.

While police believe the attack took place on February 2, Mr Dickson suspected multiple thieves had made off with the plaques much earlier after looking back through CCTV footage. He said security cameras caught video of the plaques in place at 6pm on Saturday January 18 before they disappeared by 9am the next morning, suspecting multiple offenders were involved in the theft due to the weight of the plaques.

Under the cover of night, the CCTV cameras did not detect the alleged thieves in action “tucked out of sight” at the front of the cemetery.

All of the metal plaques are insured by the VMIA.

It comes after 80 children’s plaques were stolen from Altona Memorial Park cemetery in March last year.

The bronze plaques were ripped off the graves of children who had died and been buried in a dedicated garden in an act that grieving families described at the time as “gut-wrenching”.

At this stage of the investigation, police do not believe the theft at the cemetery in Bacchus Marsh is linked to other incidents.

Anyone who witnessed anything suspicious, has CCTV, dashcam footage or any other information that could assist investigators is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

Originally published as Thieves steal memorial plaques, leave ashes exposed at Maddingley General Cemetery in Bacchus Marsh