Woman jailed after desecrating grave of diabetic young man with 'disgusting and wicked' note

A woman has been jailed after vandalising the grave of a diabetic young man with the words: "Ha Ha Ha Liam. Looks like diabetes won again."

Simona Julius, 25, daubed paint on the headstone of Liam Scarman in what was described by a judge as a "wicked" act.

Liam died of diabetes aged 22 on Boxing Day in 2017 after a suffering diabetic hypo.

Julius, who wrote an additional, sexual message on the grave, carried out the attack on the night of 26 November 2020.

She was jailed for eight weeks at Bristol Magistrates' Court over damage to the headstone at Westerleigh Crematorium in Bristol.

Julius had admitted criminal damage and two counts of malicious communications at an earlier hearing.

She was also ordered to pay £500 compensation to the family and handed a three-year restraining order.

It is unclear why Julius committed the act – though his family say they suspected she was known to their son via a previous relationship.

District Judge Lynne Matthews described her actions as "perplexing" and "wicked" and "struck at the very heart" of the family.

The crimes, just before the three-year anniversary of Liam's death in December 2017, caused his family great distress.

In a personal statement to the court, Liam's mother, Sue Witt, described how Julius' actions "took over" family members' lives.

She said: "Losing a child is the worst possible grief you could imagine. It has consumed my life.

"Having found out that somebody had damaged Liam's grave just compounded all those emotions and undid the progress I had made in dealing with his death.

"I think people are wondering what kind of person Liam was, how horrible a person he must have been for somebody to damage his grave the way they did, when in reality everybody who knew him loved him.

"I never knew him to do anything nasty or horrible to anybody. I don't understand why she did it."

Some of the notes were addressed to Liam's father, plumber and heating engineer Trevor Scarman, 65, who said in his statement: "When I found out Liam's headstone had been vandalised, I had a numb feeling that went through my body. My initial reaction was why?

"Why had someone damaged it? Why just Liam's was targeted? How anyone can write such disgusting things about my son I just cannot believe.

"The physical damage has been repaired but the emotional damage will take far longer to repair.

"It’s like someone is sticking a knife in and twisting it. Our family are completely distraught.

"To commit an act of criminal damage like this along with vile notes addressed to me has left me feeling devastated."

Investigating officer PC Kyle Maywood of the said: "I'm glad that we were able to identify the culprit and bring some relief to the family, but Julius has never answered the question of what motivated her to act as she did and cause such distress.

"I hope the sentence will help Liam's family to put this behind them so they are able to remember him as their much-loved son and brother and not Julius' hateful actions.

Liam, who worked in insurance sales, died at his dad’s house in Winterbourne Down, Gloucestershire, while living with his brother Oliver and girlfriend.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo News UK