Man's Headstone Removed From Cemetery For Being 'Offensive'

A family is devastated after discovering a headstone they erected for their loved one had been removed from an Australian cemetery for being 'offensive'.

Peter Robert Bridge died in April last year and he was laid to rest at a memorial park in Adelaide.

But Mr Bridge's family say the headstone was removed last month without their knowledge.

While the memorial for the 34-year-old has some loving words on it like 'dearly loved son, brother, uncle, nephew and cousin', it seems like the picture on the headstone is what has attracted attention.

Peter's dad Arthur is furious and upset the family weren't informed of the decision to remove the memorial and has started a petition.

He wrote on the Change.org site: "All because of a small picture of Peter giving the middle finger! There are a ridiculous amount of reasons as to why this is not acceptable.

"First and foremost, we were not even notified of his headstones removal - there was absolutely no regard for the memory and resting place of our boy.

"Secondly, the picture of Peter is so small, you'd have to be standing right in front of it to even see it properly. If his picture did offend someone, why is it anyone's problem but theirs? That is our son's personal resting space.

"It was morally wrong to remove Peter's headstone. We believe it legally is, too - we need this petition to help prove this."

The petition has been signed by more than 3,000 people. One person who signed the page said: "It's offensive to who? The dumb sheep roaming the cemetery? Give me a break."

Another added: "This is so wrong, Pete deserves his resting place to be respected just as anyone else does."

Arthur has been overwhelmed by the response of the online petition. He's hoping it will get to 5,000 signatures soon.

He wrote: "Wow to all those people who have signed my petition a massive thank you. I was not expecting so many signatures."

Adelaide Cemetries Authority claimed it received numerous complaints about the headstone and had tried to contact the Bridge family to discuss the matter.

Chief Operations Officer Michael Robertson told 7 News: "Numerous attempts were made to call the Bridge family to discuss this before the monument was removed. Our calls were not returned.

"Adelaide Cemeteries has since met with the Bridge family on a number of occasions to try to resolve the issue."

Featured Image Credit: Change.org

Topics: News, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie