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Naked man in grave rampage
Mar 4 2002
By Dale Williams, Evening Mail
More than 150 graves were left damaged after a naked man went berserk in the main cemetery at Dudley - he even wrecked a memorial to a five-year-old girl.
The man in his 20s, who had religious markings on his body, was arrested after leaving a trail of devastation.
He was taken into custody just after midday on Saturday after kicking over headstones and leaving floral tributes strewn across the grass of Dudley Cemetery, in Stour-bridge Road.
It is believed the man, who is from the Lichfield area, is suffering from some kind of serious mental illness.
Police were alerted to the attack by astonished passersby. Among the graves wrecked was that of five-year-old Dudley schoolgirl Kirsty Newman, who died in December 2000, after being born with heart condition.
Her distraught parents, Paul and Karen Newman, said they did not find out about what had happened until Saturday afternoon.
Mr Newman said Barbie dolls, which had been on the grave, were kicked around and the headstone damaged.
He said: "We go to the grave twice a day - in the morning it was fine but then we turned up to find what we did in the afternoon it was very saddening."
Det Insp Jamie Evans said the man was suffering from serious health problems and had been sent to a unit in Stafford under the Mental Health Act.
He added: "I feel for the families who have fallen victim to the tremendous amount ofdamagehecaused. But in law he cannot be held responsible for his actions and can't be charged."
