Police raid home in search of singer’s missing gravestone

9:10am Friday 18th July 2008

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POLICE raided two homes in Winsford searching for the missing gravestone of a dead singer.

Officers received an anonymous tip off that the stolen memorial stone of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis was hidden in the garden of one of two houses in Woodford Lane.

Inspector Gareth Woods, head of Macclesfield Neighbourhood Policing Unit, said: “The memorial stone was stolen in Macclesfield and we had some sketchy information that it may have been concealed in one of two gardens in Winsford.

“We didn’t find any trace of it, but apparently the homeowner was a big Joy Division fan who used to visit the memorial once a week.

“It was such sketchy information and unfortunately it led us nowhere.”

Police searched the properties in the afternoon of Thursday, July 3 after receiving reports that the stone could have been hidden under some tarpaulin in either of the gardens.

The memorial stone was stolen from Macclesfield Cemetery, in Prestbury Road, between lunchtime on Monday, July 1 and the following morning.

The stone attracts around 1,000 Joy Division fans to the cemetery every year – who are said to be distraught at the theft.

Hurdsfield-born Ian Curtis was just 23 when he hanged himself in his Macclesfield home in 1980.

The missing headstone is inscribed with the words ‘Ian Curtis 18-5-80’ and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.

Police are still searching for the stone.

Insp Woods added: “It is out there somewhere, someone has got it, but in terms of police investigation there is nothing to go on.”

If you have any information call Macclesfield NPU on 0845 458 6371.