A couple were left distraught after thieves stole two Huddersfield Town gnomes from a garden created in their son’s memory.
Dawn and Mick Rutherford discovered the gnomes were missing and some ornaments smashed in a memorial garden at their Quarmby home dedicated to son Kyle, who died when Dawn had been pregnant for 15 weeks in 2006.
Dawn, 35, said: “Some of the stuff in his garden was broken and a truck with his name on looked like it had been kicked across the garden. It was utterly heartbreaking to see the two Huddersfield Town gnomes had been taken.
“They may not mean much to some but they do to us because we bought them for Kyle for Christmas. It’s heartbreaking that they walked all over his garden and disrespected him.”
It also upset their children, Kieran, 15, Katy, 12, Chloe, 10, and Amy, eight.
But anguish soon turned to joy when the gnome theft, which was widely shared on Facebook, reached Huddersfield Town’s retail manager Luke Cowan, who replaced one of the gnomes.
The second gnome was replaced by a Town fan who drove from Dewsbury to Quarmby.
Dawn said: “The response from the club and from fans has been absolutely amazing. I want to say ‘thank you’ but it doesn’t seem enough.”
