Vandals topple 20 headstones in Whitburn cemetery

Vandals have toppled 20 headstones in a Whitburn cemetery.

West Lothian Council is appealing for help to find out who carried out the vandalism at Whitburn's Manse Road Cemetery which will cost over £3000 to fix – which saw headstones toppled and damaged.

A total of 20 headstones were pushed over between 12 noon on Tuesday 19 July and 10am on Wednesday 20 July.

None of headstones were significantly damaged, and arrangements have already been made to have them all reinstated as soon as possible.

Vandals targeted headstones at West Lothian

The cost of repairing the damage is set to rise to over £3,600.

Executive councillor for the environment Tom Conn described the damage – which will cost thousands of pounds to repair – as “appalling and upsetting for families.”

And West Lothian Council has urged anyone with information on the attack on Manse Road Cemetery to come forward – with Police Scotland also apealing for anyone who may be able to help with their inquiry to come forward with information.

Anyone with information on this can either call the council on 01506 280000 or Police Scotland on 101 using reference PS -20220720-1351.

Executive councillor for the environment and sustainability Tom Conn said: “It’s absolutely appalling that anyone would push over headstones like this.

“It is an incredibly thoughtless act that could be extremely upsetting for the families involved and the local community.

“We would appeal to anyone with information to come forward to the council or the police, to prevent such incidents taking place in the future.