A HEARTBROKEN father has described his pain after cruel thieves stole a statue from his son’s grave.

Michael Sheridan, aged 48, described his horror when he discovered the granite statue had been ripped from the ground.

Mr Sheridan’s son Stewart died aged 10 in August 2015 after suffering from a brain tumour.

The distraught father said the statue, which cost him nearly £1,000, helped him remember his son when he visited his the grave in Bury Cemetery, in St Peter's Road, every day.

Stewart was “football mad”, according to his father, and played for Walshaw Sports Club Juniors as a striker.

The 2ft-tall statue was of a boy in a black and white kit, like Walshaw’s, with Stewart’s name and number on the back.

The statue was bolted down underneath stones but was ripped out by the thieves. There is now a big hole in the ground and stones all over the place.

Mr Sheridan said: “I go to visit his grave every day and when I went this time I could see something was wrong from a distance.

“Then I saw the great big hole where the statue should have been.

“It made me feel sick, I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

“I was just so shocked and upset that somebody could be so heartless to do that to a child’s grave.

“It says 10 years old on the grave, so they knew exactly what they were doing, it is just unbelievable.

“I visit the grave every day and that statue was always there to remind me of my son.

“It is tough enough that my son is not with us anymore but then for this to happen is just devastating, it’s so upsetting and sickening.

“The family, everyone, can’t believe it. We are all going mad.

“We just hope someone, somewhere, if they have it, will come forward and return it.

“If they have the decency to put it back then there will be no questions asked.

“We just want it back.”

Mr Sheridan now lives in Wythenshawe but Stewart grew up in Bury, attending Fairfield Community Primary School, in Rochdale Old Road.

“The statue was a way of remembering Stewart, it was why I had it done, so there would always be that there to remind me of him,” he added.

“Stewart was football mad, every day he was kicking a football in the back garden if he was playing a match.”

Police are investigating and believe the statue was stolen between 7pm on Thursday May 18 and 1pm Friday May 19.

Anybody with any information should call police on 101 quoting crime reference number 128107W/17.

Alternatively, people can contact independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.