Bristol woman jailed after vandalising young man’s grave
A woman from Bristol has been jailed after vandalising a young man's grave and leaving a sick note for his family.
Simona Julius daubed white paint on Liam Scarman’s headstone at Westerleigh Crematorium in November last year.
The 25-year-old, from St George, also left a note for his family and sent offensive messages in Christmas cards.
She was jailed for eight weeks after admitting criminal damage and two counts of malicious communications at Bristol Magistrates’ Court.
‘I don’t understand why she did it’
The crimes, which were committed just before the third anniversary of Liam’s death in December 2017, caused the young man’s family huge distress.
In a personal statement to the court, Liam’s mother Sue Witt said: “Losing a child is the worst possible grief you could imagine.
“It has consumed my life. Having found out that somebody had damaged Liam’s grave just compounded all those emotions and undid the progress I had made in dealing with his death.
“I never knew him to do anything nasty or horrible to anybody. I don’t understand why she did it.”
Officers from Avon and Somerset Police said Julius never explained why she targeted Liam’s grave or family.
“I’m glad that we were able to identify the culprit and bring some relief to the family, but Julius has never answered the question of what motivated her to act as she did and cause such distress,” PC Kyle Maywood said.
“I hope the sentence will help Liam’s family to put this behind them so they are able to remember him, their much-loved son and brother, and not Julius’ hateful actions.”
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