A mother is appealing for the return of a statue that was stolen from the grave of her daughter, who died from cancer aged 42.

Geraldine Parsley bought the statue of a fairy for the grave of her daughter Frances Emms at Risby Crematorium, but recently found that the bronze ornament had been stolen.

The Bury St Edmunds resident died ten years ago from pancreatic cancer and her mother had bought the 2ft 6ins high statue to adorn her grave, which shows a young girl with a bird in her hands.

The statue was bought as a Christmas present for her daughter last year.

Mrs Parsley said: “How heartbroken and disgusted we were to think that someone could sink so low as to steal it, or anything, from a grave.”