Flowers
Flowers REUTERS/Jason Lee

A woman has been caught on CCTV stealing flowers from the grave of a school boy.

The relatives of Robert Stringer, 11, had set up the camera at the grave after flowers and ornaments started disappearing regularly, according to the Mirror.

Taxi driver Steve Rose fixed the camera in a tree after realising that ornaments and flowers went missing on a regular basis during the past 18 months from the grave of his cousin, a report in the Sun said.

However, they were shocked when the footage showed an elderly woman stealing the flowers.

"We were surprised, everyone expected it to be kids. It's an awful, callous crime and none of us can understand how she could do that to a child," Steve told the newspaper.

Steve was quoted by the Sun as saying: "It's terrible that someone would do this. It's just awful. It was happening so often, as fast as we were putting flowers down they were disappearing. We have left signs asking they stop stealing but that didn't deter them. It's just callous."

Robert was killed in a car crash in 1980.

"Robert was a lovely lad and it was a terrible tragedy. Potted plants and baskets started to ­disappear on a regular basis. That's why we installed the camera. I want this woman ­prosecuted for the terrible things she's done. It's not the cost of the flowers it's the principle. The police have been very helpful but they told me she may only get a warning," Steve told the paper.

The Met Police said: "We are appealing for ­information about who this woman is. Thefts like this are very distressing for relatives," reports the Mirror.