Churchyard is branded a tip’

A CHURCHYARD has been branded a tip after empty cans, a headboard and even a mattress were found just yards from headstones.

Items including a bedroom cabinet, bags full of cardboard and empty tins of tuna have been left among the rotting vegetation.

According to one visitor, loved ones are just a few feet away from the rubbish-strewn compost heap at St Mary's Parish Church in Great Dunmow.

Gill Green, 67, of Capel Road in Rayne, said: "It's not a compost heap, it's a dump. It's just getting worse."

Mrs Green visits the churchyard every week to tend to her family's graves, first noticed the rubbish in July and believes the situation is getting worse.

She said: "I've not seen anyone taking anything away; you have to look after it yourself. There are two dustbins down there that should be for plastic flowers and paper only."

Vicar David Ainge of St Mary's church was less concerned by the rubbish and said that the compost heap had been burned.

Mr Ainge said: "This is the second time it has been reported this year, it is not a regular feature. In the previous three years no-one else has mentioned it."

However, Mrs Green was more worried by the state of the compost heap and the type of rubbish which is being dumped.

She said: "It should only be for stuff that comes out of the churchyard, a lot of it is recyclable.

"All of my family have been given three recycling bins by the district council."

Dumping of waste or fly tipping is a criminal offence, punishable by a maximum £20,000 fine and/or a six-month imprisonment.