A FAMILY mourning the death of a husband and father have described their horror at finding his grave vandalised just 24 hours after his funeral.

George Mustion, who died on Christmas Eve following a long battle with cancer, was laid to rest in Warborough, near Wallingford, on Monday, but flowers and mementos placed on his grave were wrecked within a day.

The 52-year-old’s widow, Jane, took his three children and grandson down to the cemetery at lunchtime on Tuesday only to find roses torn from a floral display spelling ‘Dad’.

A pillow marked ‘Husband’ and a photo had also been taken from the site in the graveyard at St Laurence Church in Thame Road.

The 42-year-old said: “Roses had been thrown off, my pillow had been ripped off and a picture of my little grandson, who is only 13 weeks old, and my husband has been stolen.

“We walked down at 1pm and didn’t notice until my son went ahead and saw the photo had been taken, then we saw roses had been thrown over other graves.

“It’s absolutely disgusting.”

Carpenter Mr Mustion had been given 10 months to live in February last year, but was expected to live through Christmas with his wife, their nine-year-old son George, and Mrs Mustion’s children Callum, 16, Chantel, 19, and her baby son Codie Curtis.

Mrs Mustion said: “He had terminal cancer but we all thought he would be OK for Christmas.

“It came as a shock to all of us and the staff at the hospital when he got ill on Christmas Eve.

“He was an absolute gem of a man. A great husband, a great father and a fantastic grandad.

“It’s been hard enough as it is, but this has left all of us feeling absolutely sick.

“We’ve had to scrape together money to get him buried and for the flowers. It cost about £240 for three lots of flowers and now this has happened.

“It just shows how sick and sad some people are.”

Thames Valley Police said officers were investigating the incident.