Police close in on 'grave flower thief'

Police revealed today they may know the identity of the woman accused of stealing flowers from the grave of a child.

The family of Robert Stringer, who died aged 11 in 1980, launched an appeal for information after filming the thefts using a secret motion-sensor camera. Images showed an elderly woman looking behind her before kneeling beside the grave and putting flower pots in a bag and walking away.

Officers were today investigating a potential suspect after a member of the public contacted them yesterday.

Cab driver Steve Rose placed the camera in a tree at Rippleside Cemetery, Barking, after a spate of thefts from the resting place of his cousin. Ornaments had vanished almost every fortnight over the last 18 months.

Robert was killed after running out in front of a car. His mother Joan visited the grave every week until her death two years ago aged 81.